Malvika Bansod and women's doubles duo of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto secured contrasting wins to make the semi-finals of the Guwahati Masters Super 100 badminton tournament in Guwahati on Friday.
Malvika, the only Indian woman left in the singles draw, overcame Karupathevan Letshanaa of Malaysia 21-12, 21-16.
The 22-year-old Indian trusted her strong defence and engaged her opponent in longer rallies in the quarterfinal.
She will now be facing Lalinrat Chaiwan of Thailand, who shocked third seed Sung Shuo Yun of Chinese Taipei 21-10, 16-21, 21-16 for a place in the final.
Reacting to her match, Malvika said she came prepared for Letshanaa's attacking game. “My execution was quite well in the opening game, and I managed to engage her in long rallies in the second to win.”
Meanwhile, in the doubles category, Ashwini and Tanisha saved four game points in the opening game before getting the better of the Indonesian pair Jesita Putri Miantoro and Febi Setianingrum 22-20, 21-16, thus qualifying for the last-four stage.
Tanisha also stayed on course for a double crown. She reached the mixed doubles semis along with Dhruv Kapila, defeating Amri Syahnawi and Winny Kandow of Indonesia 21-16, 21-17 in the quarters.
The hosts are also set to have a pair in the men's doubles semis, with Hariharan Amsakarunan and R Ruban Kumar stunning 6th seeds Kapila and Vishnuvardhan Goud 21-18, 9-21, 21-18 in an all-Indian quarterfinal.
They will now be taking on the Chinese Taipei duo Lin Bing-Wei and Su Ching Heng for a spot in the final.
Unfortunately, India's challenge in men's singles ended, with Karthikeyan Gulshan Kumar failing to maintain his momentum after winning the opening game and going down 14-21, 21-12, 21-9 to Malaysia's Cheam June Wei in the quarters.
