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Top seed Sameer Verma and fifth seed Parupalli Kashyap booked their spots in the quarter-finals of the Orleans Masters in Orleans, France on Thursday, but RMV Gurusaidutt crashed out of this Super 100 tournament. Swiss Open winner Verma battled back from a 7-11 deficit in the first game to notch up a 21-16, 21-15 win over the 64th ranked Thomas Rouxel of France in 37 minutes.
The World No. 37 next faces the winner of the third round match between the eighth seed Lucas Corvee and Nhat Nguyen.
Fifth seed Parupalli Kashyap had a breezy time on the court against qualifier Joshua Magee in his third round match. The 2014 Commonwealth Games champion needed just 32 minutes to get past the Irishman 21-11, 21-14.
Kashyap next takes on the third seeded Rasmus Gemke of Denmark for a place in the semi-finals. The World No. 42 is climbing his way back after suffering from a multitude of injuries in the past couple of years. He won the Austrian Open in February, his first international title after three years.
2014 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Gurusaidutt fought hard but eventually succumbed to a 20-22, 21-17, 17-21 defeat to the former World No. 2 Jan O Jorgensen in 56 minutes. Gurusaidutt has been a qualifier at this tournament and won four matches before his run was halted by the Dane.
In men’s doubles, the sixth seeded combine of Francis Alwin and Kidambi Nandagopal battled hard to register a 15-21, 21-17, 21-17 win over the Polish pair of Milosz Bochat and Adam Cwalina in 54 minutes. In the quarter-finals, the Indian pair will meet the third seeded German duo of Mark Lamsfuss and Marvin Emil Seidel.
Alwin and Nandagopal have had a good start to the 2018 season, winning the International Challenge title in Iran in February.
In women’s singles, rising star Mugdha Agrey was outclassed 11-21, 9-21 by the eighth seed Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia.
