On a mixed day for India, fourth-seeded women’s doubles duo of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa led men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri/B Sumeeth Reddy and the mixed team of Pranaav Jerry Chopra/N Sikki Reddy into the quarter-finals of the $120, 000 Skycity New Zealand Open in Auckland on Thursday. However, the men’s doubles duo of Chopra/Akshay Dewalkar and the mixed combine of Ponnappa/Attri crashed out of this Grand Prix Gold event in the second round.
Jwala and Ashwini were made to work hard by Mayu Matsumoto/Wakana Nagahara for a 10-21, 23-21, 21-15 victory that took 54 minutes. After being routed by the unseeded team in the first game, the former World Championships bronze medallists stormed back to lead 19-14 in the second game. But the undeterred Japanese made a late surge once again and tied the score at 21-21. The experienced Indian pair then showed their mettle by taking the next two points to force a decider and win the encounter.
They will next meet Australians Setyana Mapasa and Gronya Somerville on Friday.
Sixth-seeded Manu Attri/B Sumeeth Reddy had absolutely no trouble in dispatching Philippine combine of Ronel Estanislao/Paul Jefferson Vivas, 21-15, 21-16 in 26 minutes. Up next for them are second-seeded Koreans Ko Sung Hyun and Shin Baek Cheol.
In mixed doubles, Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy sailed into the last-eight with a comfortable 21-16, 21-13 win over qualifiers Takuto Inoue and Naru Shinoya. They, however, have a tough task up next as they face the second seeds Shin Baek Cheol and Chae Yoo Jung, who ended the run of qualifiers Attri/Ponnappa 17-21, 19-21.
In the other second round men’s doubles match of the day, Chopra and Dewalkar came up short against the seventh seeds Chen Hung Ling and Chi-Lin Wang, losing 14-21, 17-21 in 31 minutes.
