Basel: India’s Ajay Jayaram on Thursday stunned Swiss third seed Rasmus Gemke to reach the quarter-finals of the Swiss Open Super 300 badminton tournament. Later in the day, B Sai Praneeth, too, entered the quarter-finals.
Jayaram, who currently has a world ranking of 60, beat the 12th ranked Gemke 21-18, 17-21, 21-13 to set up a match against Thai eighth seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn.
Sai Praneeth got the better of Spain’s Pablo Abian 21-12, 21-17 to enter the last-eight stage.
Reigning women’s world champion PV Sindhu cruised into the last-eight stage with a straight games win over USA’s Iris Wang. Second seed Sindhu saw off the 40th-ranked Iris 21-13, 21-14 in a match that lasted 35 minutes.
Sindhu earlier beat Turkish world No. 29 Neslihan Yigit in straight games and now faces a tricky match-up with Thai fifth seed Busanan Ongbamrungphan in the quarter-finals.
In a late evening match, world’s 10th ranked Satwik SaiRaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated Indonesia’s Pramudya Kusumawardana and Yeremia Erich Yoche Yacob Rambitan 21-17 20-22 21-17 to advance to the quarterfinals.
In a mixed doubles second-round match, also played in the evening, Satwik SaiRaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponappa beat Indonesian pair Rinov Rivaldy and Pitha Haningtyas Mentari 21-18 21-16.
Earlier in the day, Kidambi Srikanth beat France’s Thomas Rouxel in three games to enter the quarter-finals. Srikanth beat Rouxel 21-10, 14-21, 21-14 in 52 minutes. He will now face Thai sixth seed Kantaphon Wangcharoen, who beat the Netherlands’ Mark Caljouw 21-9, 21-16.
