India's rising star P Kashyap and young shuttler PV Sindhu notched up contrasting wins in the men's and women's singles to advance to the semi-finals of the Indian Open Grand Prix badminton tournament in Hyderabad on Friday.
Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, Kashyap bounced back from a game down to defeat Indonesian Tommy Sugiarto 18-21, 21-17, 21-18 in the quarter-finals of the men's singles event.
Sindhu, on the other hand, took just 21 minutes to get across compatriot Anita Ohlan 21-10, 21-15 in the women's singles.
In the mixed doubles, Indian combo of Tarun Kona and Ashwini Ponnappa beat second seed country mates Arun Vishnu and Aparna Balan 21-16, 21-17 in a 29-minute affair.
But fourth seeded pair of Pranav Chopra and Prajakta Sawant lost 13-21, 15-21 to Chayut Triyachart and Yu Yan Vanessa Neo in the mixed doubles.
Among other Indians, seventh seed Arvind Bhat, Neha Pandit and Aditya Elango suffered straight-game defeats in their respective quarterfinal matches to crash out of the tournament.
Arvind lost 18-21, 18-21 to Suppanyu Avihingsanon of Thailand, Neha went down 10-21 9-21 against Indonesian Ana Rovita, while Aditya lost 13-21, 8-21 to top seed Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka of Indonesia.
In the women's doubles, second seeds Della Destiara Haris and Andini Suci Rizky of Indonesia defeated Indian pair of Anjali Kalitha and Dhanya Nair 21-12, 21-11.
Another Indian pair of Sai Praneeth B and Nandagopal K lost 14-21, 8-21 to Indonesian combo of Hendri Kurniawan Saputra and Chayut Triyachart in men's doubles.
Kashyap, who rose seven places to 23rd in the recent world ranking, was a little tense initially as he lost the first game from 9-9 to 18-21 but there after the Pune shuttler didn't allow his rival any chance.
In the second game, he surged ahead from 8-8 to open a six point lead but Tommy clawed back to reduce the gap to 13-14 but Kashyap was in no mood to relent as he closed the game to bounce back in the match.
The decider was also a close affair as both the shuttlers went neck-and-neck from 3-3 to 14-14 before Kashyap closed the issue and booked a place in the semi-finals.
"It is always a tense moment to play in India but I was confident all through the match. My strokes were better than him. I had beaten him in the Asian Badminton championship," Kashyap said.
"I have improved a lot. So even after losing the first game, I knew that it is just a matter of time of getting back into rhythm. I am desperate to win big tournaments in India," he added.
Asked about his final against World number 19 Rumbaka, Kashyap said he is ready for the challenge.
"I had lost to him in the Syed Modi quarter-finals last year from a match point. After that I haven't played against him. He hits really hard, so I have to be ready. I have to play at the back and be prepared for the net," he said.
