Defending champions Saina Nehwal, Ajay Jayaram and R M V Gurusaidutt marched into the quarterfinals of the Indonesian Super Series Premier after winning their respective matches on Thursday bringing fresh hopes for India.
Saina breezed past Sayaka Takahashi of Japan while Gurusaidutt struggled hard to win over Kazumasa Sakai of Japan. World No.2 shuttler Saina took just 39 minutes to outplay her 24th ranked rival by 21-13 21-19 in a women's singles second round match at the Istora Gelora Bung Karno Stadium. The second seeded depended on her strikes and superior net plays to sneak pass her Japanese rival. The duo started on equal footing and were tied till 6-6 before Saina rushed ahead to open up a difference of six points. However, the Japanese managed to clinch a few straight points to reduce the gap to 13-14 at one stage. But the Indian exhibited her class and comfortably wrapped up the first game at 21-13.
Takahashi got stronger in the second game as the two opponents got engaged in a violent battle. Tied at 12-12, the Japanese won 3 points on the trot to score 15-12 and then managed to maintain a slim lead over Saina. The higher ranked Indian however battled on and turned the tables at 18-18 and ultimately roared back into the tournament. After a severe fight, Saina finally got the victory and scored 21-19. The 23-year-old from Hyderabad will lock horns with Carolina Marin of Spain in the quarters.
Gurusaidutt scored 21-12 9-21 21-19 against Sakai in a contention that lasted a less than an hour. Following a comfortable 12-21 win in the opening game, Gurusaidutt was entirely outplayed by his rival in the second game. At the end, the deciding game was a see-saw battle and the scores were stuck at 17-17 before the Indian ascended in time to advance to the next stage. Subsequently, Gurusaidutt will encounter Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia in the last-eight stage.
On the other side, Sai Praneeth exited from men's singles as he went down to lock horns with World No.1 Malaysian top seed Lee Chong Wei in the pre-quarters to score 18-21 12-21 in 37 minutes.
Jayaram defeated Indonesian fourth seed Sony Dwi Kuncoro by 22-20 21-12. The Mumbaikar will lock horns with Marc Zwiebler of Germany against whom the World No.25 drew by 1-1.
In another men's singles, Sourabh Varma was ousted by the third seed Pengyu Du of China by 16-21 6-21 in 37 minutes. Eventually, India's endeavor concluded in both mixed doubles and women's doubles events.
Unfortunately, the women's double pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Pradnya Gadre lost by 13-21 19-21 against local pair of Anneke Feinya Agustin and Della Destiara Haris in a bit more than half an hour. Meanwhile, Ponnappa along with her mixed doubles partner Tarun Kona were handed a 14-21 21-17 13-21 defeat by Robert Mateusiak and Nadiezda Zieba of Poland within 42 minutes.
