SINGAPORE, April 11: The Indian trio of PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth continued their impressive run, progressing to the singles quarterfinals of the USD 355,000 Singapore Open here on Thursday.
The fourth-seeded Sindhu, a Rio Games silver medallist, took 39 minutes to get the better of World No. 22 Mia Blichfeldt 21-13, 21-19, her second straight win over the Danish shuttler, who had clinched the Spain Masters earlier this year.
World No. 6 Sindhu will next face China�s Cai Yanyan, a 2017 BWF World Junior Championships bronze medallist.
Sixth seed Srikanth survived a scare in the second game before overcoming Denmark�s Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus 21-12, 23-21 to set up a meeting with the winner of the match between top seed Kento Momota of Japan and India�s HS Prannoy.
Sixth seed Saina, however, had to work hard in her bid to avenge a Malaysia Open first-round loss to Pornpawee Chochuwong before pulling off a thrilling 21-16, 18-21, 21-19 win over the Thai shuttler in the second round.
The London Olympic bronze medallist will next square off against second seeded Japanese Nozomi Okuhara.
While Saina was plotting the downfall of Chochuwong, her husband and fellow shuttler Parupalli Kashyap, was locked in a fierce battle with reigning Olympic champion, Chen Long of China.
Kashyap, a 2014 Commonwealth Games champion, stretched Chen to three games before narrowly losing 9-21, 21-15, 16-21 to the fourth seeded Chinese, who had reached the finals at Malaysia Open last year.
Sameer Verma continued his impressive run, beating China�s Lu Guangzu 21-15, 21-18, to set up a clash with either second seeded Taipei player Chou Tien Chen or Denmark�s Jan O Jorgensen.
Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy also entered the quarterfinals after stunning World No. 11 Hong Kong pair of Tang Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet 21-17, 6-21, 21-19 in a 50-minute clash. � PTI
