Indian shuttlers met with mixed fortunes at the 2016 Dutch Open in Almere, Netherlands on Thursday as men’s singles top seed Ajay Jayaram progressed into the quarter-finals but 11th seed Parupalli Kashyap crashed out. In doubles too, India had a mixed day with men’s doubles top seeds Manu Attri-Sumeeth Reddy and third seeds Pranaav Jerry Chopra-Akshay Dewalkar losing in the first round.
There were better results in the mixed doubles section where both the Indian teams in action – Pranaav Jerry Chopra-N Sikki Reddy and Sumeeth Reddy-Meghana Jakkampudi made it through to the last-eight stage.
Jayaram is the two-time defending champion at this Grand Prix tournament and looks confident enough to reign supreme at the Dutch Open for the third time. He had posted commanding victories in his first couple of rounds on Wednesday and did not drop any game.
It was the same on Thursday as the 29-year-old breezed through his third round match in just 19 minutes. The Indian thoroughly dominated the proceedings from start to finish and lost a total of just 12 points in his 21-6, 21-6 win over the 16th seeded Marius Myhre of Norway.
In the quarter-finals, the top seed will face the eighth-seeded Ygor Coelho de Oliveira of Brazil.
The Commonwealth Games champion Kashyap, meanwhile, was not so lucky. The 30-year-old, who is on the comeback from knee injury, went down fighting 18-21, 18-21 to the sixth seed and World No. 47 Raul Must of Estonia.
Possibility of an all-Indian final in mixed doubles
Chopra and Sikki Reddy, who won the Russian Open last week, continue to shine in mixed doubles. The fourth-seeded pair beat the French duo of Jordan Corvee and Anne Tran, 21-16, 21-17. They will next meet another French pair – Ronan Labar and Audrey Fontaine for a place in the semi-finals.
In the other half of the draw, Sumeeth Reddy and Jakkampudi beat local duo of Jelle Maas and Imke Van der Aar, 21-16, 21-18 for a quarter-final berth where they will face the seventh seeds Marvin Emil Seidel and Birgit Michels.
In men’s doubles, the top seeds Attri and Reddy were upset 19-21, 19-21 by local combine of Jacco Arends and Ruben Jille while the third seeds Chopra and Dewalkar were edged 17-21, 21-15, 20-22 by Bjarne Geiss and Fabian Holzer of Germany.
