Three Indian shuttlers, including P V Sindhu, advanced to the second round of the USD 120,000 Macau Open Grand Prix Gold but it was curtains for Ajay Jayaram in men's singles, here today.
Two-time bronze medallist at World Championship, P V Sindhu, seeded fifth, defeated Kim Hyo Min of Korea 21-13 22-20 in a women's singles match to set up a clash with the winner of the match between Indonesia's Lindaweni Fanetri and Cheng Chi Ya of Chinese Taipei.
In men's singles, Seventh seed H S Prannoy saw off Chinese Taipei's Lin Chia Hsuan 21-19 21-15 and will meet China's Qiao Bin tomorrow.
B Sai Praneeth, seeded 15th, spanked Uzbekistan's Artyom Savatyugin 21-11 21-8 in another match and will face the winner of the match between Indonesia's Andre Kurniawan Tedjono and Chinese Taipei's Yang Chih Chieh.
However, it turned out to be a disappointing day for ninth seed Jayaram as he lost 11-21 17-21 to Lin Guipu of China in another men's singles match.
2010 Commonwealth Games champion Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa continued their rough patch as they lost 16-21 15-21 to Japanese pair of Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota in women's doubles event.
(REOPENS FGN 19)
Meanwhile, Sameer Verma reached the semifinals of the men's singles after getting the better of Malaysia's Chong Wei Feng 21-17 23-21 in just 47 minutes.
However, it was curtains for Ajay Jayaram as he lost his quarterfinal match to NG Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong 15-21 14-21 in 32 minutes and crashed out of the event.
Analysing her quarterfinal match that she won in three games, Sindhu said although she managed to pull it off she was not up to the mark.
"I was leading but lost the second game. She (Xiaoyu Lian) played well. I was very nervous and gave a huge lead. I was 7-15 down in the third. My shots were going out, even the once I had to get. I was not confident in playing strokes. Even when I played safe the shots were going out.
"I didn't know what to play. After 7-15 I got confident. Liang is good, she has improved a lot. I was not up to the mark," said Sindhu.
Saina said that since the last two matches were very tiring, it became a bit tough for her today as she was still not 100 per cent fit.
"The last two matches were too tiring. I pushed myself but it was too tough for me today. I was trying but she (Cheung Ngan Yi) was a bit more alert in the end. I was trying to get my breath back and she was pushing hard," said Saina.
"I had the feeling I could have won. But it is not easy when you are not fit. I'm not disappointed with the loss. I am happy that I am playing well after comeback. I could have played semis but when your condition is not good you can't expect too much," she added.
