India Open: Kiran George springs a surprise as Sat-Chi, Sindhu enter quarters

Delhi: Indian shutters booked three quarterfinal spots at the India Open Super 750 tournament in New Delhi on Thursday.

PV Sindhu and Kiran George registered straight-game wins while the men's doubles pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty took three games to seal a spot in the quarterfinals.

A come-from-behind win for Satwik-Chirag 

The former world no. 1 Indian men's doubles pair of Satwik and Chirag faced a tough fight (20-22, 21-14, 21-16) from the Japanese pair in the second round.

The Indian pair started the opening game with a slight lead and maintained that throughout but in the final minutes few errors crept in and they lost the game, 20-22.

However, it didn't hamper their gameplay and they started posting more threats on the Japanese pair to end the match in their favour.

"I think the last time that we played we managed to beat them in two straight games. I think it should have been the same scoreline this time around but like I said a few mistakes here and there and that cost us the game. But the way we came back, I think we didn't give them a chance," Chirag said after the win.

Straight-game wins for Sindhu and Kiran George

Former champion PV Sindhu rekindled memories of her old aggressive self while up-and-coming Kiran George kept his nerves under pressure to register straight game wins.

Having spent over six months on the sidelines, Sindhu had looked rusty in the opening match against Shuo Yun Sung of Chinese Taipei in the opening round. But the former world champion played aggressively against Suizu by going for winners from both sides of the court.

After the initial exchanges, Sindhu raced to a 13-6 lead in the opening game and though Suizu narrowed the gap to 14-13, the Indian star always looked in control and he again opened a big gap. The second game saw complete domination of Sindhu, who found cross-court winners at will.“

Sindhu will now face Indonesian fourth seed Gregoria Mariska Tunjung, who defeated another Japanese Natsuki Nadaira 21-12, 24-22 in the other second-round clash.

Earlier, Kiran saved six-game points against Lanier in the opening game of their second-round clash. The 24-year-old, who got a last-minute entry into the competition from the reserves list, looked out of sorts as the Frenchman attacked precisely in the opening game.

Lanier raced to a 20-14 lead in the opening game before Kiran staged an improbable comeback, winning eight straight points to pocket the game 22-20.

At that stage, he simply kept the shuttle in play long enough for his opponent to make a mistake and the errors began coming thick and fast for the Frenchman as the Indian started closing in.“

"At 14-20, I was just taking one point at a time, not thinking about the lead, or whether I was trailing. I was just playing one point at a time. I think that helped me to secure the game,” said Kiran after the win.

He will now face China’s Hong Yang Weng, who got the better of Malaysia’s Jun Hao Leong 21-18, 21-12 in the other second-round clash.

End of the campaign for Ashwini-Tanisha

It was not a fruitful day for the other Indian contenders in the fray with the women’s doubles combination of Ashwini Ponnappa/Tanisha Crasto, Rutuparna Panda/Swetaparna Panda, and mixed doubles pairs of Dhruv Kapila/Tanisha and Ashith Surya/Amrutha Pramuthesh getting knocked out in the second round.

Dhruv and Tanisha played their hearts out against eighth seeds Hiroki Midorikawa and Natsu Saito of Japan but ended on the losing end of the 21-18, 21-17 score-line.

Later, Tanisha and Ashwini also had a mixed day in office as they lost 9-21, 21-23 against Japan’s Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto.