Ace Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap reached the pre-quarterfinals of the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold after notching up contrasting victories in the women's and men's singles competitions in Basel.
Top seed Saina, who regained her second place in the world ranking on Thursday, prevailed over Sashina Vignes Waran of France 13-21, 21-15, 21-12 in a 47-minute match, while Kashyap edged out German Dieter Domke 15-21, 22-20, 21-13 in a match that lasted 50 minutes on Wednesday.
The London Olympics bronze medallist will next take on Petya Nedelcheva in the pre-quarters, while fifth seed Kashyap, who jumped two placed to become the world number seven in the latest badminton ranking today, will be up against ninth seed Wei Feng Chong of Malaysia.
Among the young shuttlers, H S Prannoy stunned seventh seed Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand to earn the prequarterfinal berth and will clash with 15th seed Tien Chen Chou of Chinese Taipei later on Thursday.
P V Sindhu, too, entered the second round after her rival Ji Hyun Sung of Korea retired midway with the Indian leading 7-2. She will be up against qualifier Yui Hashimoto of Japan next at the St Jakobshalle.
In the men's doubles competition, Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar prevailed over Thai combo of Bodin Issara and Sudket Prapakamol 12-21, 21-17, 21-15 to make their way to the prequarterfinals.
The Indian duo will be up against the top seeds Sung Hyun Ko and Yong Dae Lee of Korea next.
Saina had beaten Sashina during the 2011 edition of the tournament but she was finding it difficult to negotiate her game on Wednesday and could not put up any challenge in the first game, as the world number 35 French raced to a 1-0 lead.
In the second game too, Saina was lagging behind 2-5 but the Indian soon got her act together and clawed back, and after a hard fight till 13-13 she managed to reeled off five straight points to carve out a five-point lead and then held on to her game to bounce back.
In the decider, Saina didn't allow the French any chance to comeback into the match. Having opened up a 3-0 lead, the Indian kept increasing the gap and sealed the issue in her favour.
Kashyap's was an intense battle right from the start as he and his opponent fought tooth and nail to exchange leads till 12-12. After that the German marched ahead with a six-point burst, which helped him to earn the bragging rights.
The second game was also a nail-biting issue as Kashyap and Domke went neck and neck till 12-12 once again but this time, it was Kashyap who slowly eked out a narrow 15-12 lead and enjoyed a five game points at one stage before Domke levelled the score.
However, the Indian was in no mood to let it go and he bounced back in the contest winning the final two points.
In the decider, Kashyap opened up a 5-0 lead and held on to his advantage to seal it comfortably in the end.
Photograph: Beawiharta/Reuters
