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The mixed doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy kept the Indian Tricolour flying high at the Yonex Dutch Open 2017 after reaching the quarter-finals of this Grand Prix tournament in Almere, Netherlands on Thursday. Ponnappa and Rankireddy, who qualified for this tournament, needed just 32 minutes to dismiss the challenge of the Danish pair of Kristoffer Knudsen and Isabella Nielsen with a 21-12, 21-18 scoreline in the second round.
The Indians will next meet the unseeded Irish-Swedish combine of Scott Evans and Amanda Hogstrom for a place in the last-four.
Qualifiers Ponnappa and Rankireddy have been very impressive at this tournament and accounted for the seventh seeds Robin Tabeling and Cheryl Seinen in the first round.
They are now the last remaining Indians at the 2017 Dutch Open.
Satwiksairaj, however, did not have the same fortunes in his men’s doubles match where he and Chirag Shetty succumbed to a 17-21, 14-21 defeat to the fifth seeds Liao Min Chun and Cheng Heng Su.
India’s challenge came to an end in men’s singles after the 15th seeded Subhankar Dey squandered a one-game lead to go down to the fifth seeded Emil Holst, 21-14, 20-22, 11-21 in the third round.
In women’s singles, South Asian Games gold medallist Ruthvika Shivani Gadde was outclassed 11-21, 13-21 by the top seed Beiwen Zhang in the second round in just 26 minutes.
Also read: Dutch Open 2017: Indian mixed doubles pairs enter main draw
Seventh seeded Attri-Reddy bite the dust
The seventh seeded men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy suffered a 13-21, 20-22 loss at the hands of the Dutch duo of Jelle Maas and Robin Tabeling. The two, who have been inconsistent this season, captured the Lagos International title in July but have not been able to build on it and have been on a four-match losing streak since.
There was double whammy for Attri as he lost his mixed doubles encounter as well. Attri and K Maneesha, who had qualified for this event, found the sixth seeds Jacco Arends and Selena Piek too tough to handle and went down 13-21, 14-21.
In women’s doubles, the only Indian pair of K Maneesha and Arathi Sara Sunil was beaten 16-21, 11-21 by the top seeded Indonesian team of Anggia Shitta Awanda and Ni Ketut Mahadewi Istarani in the first round.
