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In a tale of contrasting fortunes for the top two seeds, Sameer Verma progressed into the quarter-finals but Sai Praneeth crashed out of the Hyderabad Open 2018. The top seeded Verma needed 24 minutes to get the better of Kevin Arokia Walter 21-14, 21-9 on Thursday.
2014 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist RMV Gurusaidutt joined the Swiss Open champion in the quarter-finals. He beat compatriot Daniel Farid 21-14, 21-13 in 31 minutes to book his last-eight berth.
Gurusaidutt is continuing his fine run at this event, a day after beating the third seed Misha Zilberman 21-11, 21-14.
In women’s singles, fifth seed Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli needed just 26 minutes to reign supreme over Thailand’s Nuntakarn Aimsaard while the top seeded Dinar Dyah Ayustine was shocked 15-21, 15-21 by Singapore’s Yeo Jia Min.
The latter had accounted for former Indian national champion Rituparna Das in the earlier round, with a 21-13, 21-11 victory.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Super 100 tournament, being staged in Hyderabad for the first time, witnessed a big upset as the second seed Sai Praneeth was knocked out. Indonesia’s Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo came back from a game down to prevail over the 2017 Singapore Open winner 13-21, 22-20, 21-12.
Lakshya Sen too suffered the same fate after being defeated 13-21, 12-21 by the eighth seed Heo Kwang Hee. Another rising star, Siril Verma too fell after losing a 15-21, 21-19, 11-21 battle to Chirag Sen.
Fourth seed Parupalli Kashyap had to retire after playing just two points against Vicky Angga Saputra in the second round.
In doubles, the top seeded mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy made it to the quarter-finals. The Indians had to work hard in the second game to overcome the challenge of Yeung Shing Choi and Fan Ka Yan before notching up a 21-10, 22-20 win.
The other seeded Indian pairs in this section, however, had tough luck. Third seeds Rohan Kapoor and Kuhoo Garg were beaten 22-20, 5-21, 13-21 by the Indonesian duo of Renaldi Samosir and Hediana Julimarbela.
Fourth seeds Saurabh Sharma and Anoushka Parikh too squandered a one-game lead to go down 21-19, 16-21, 11-21.
