P.V. Sindhu, Ajay Jayaram one step away from Malaysia Masters final

P.V. Sindhu

Kuching (Malaysia), Jan 16 (IANS)

Indian shuttlers P.V. Sindhu and Ajay Jayaram rose to the occasion to beat their respective last eight opponents and enter the semi-finals of the $120,000 Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold on Friday.

However, it was the end of the road for reigning Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap, Aditya Prakash and B. Sai Praneeth who floundered their chances to lose in their respective pre-quarter matches at the Stadium Perpaduan Kuching.

Women's singles second seed Sindhu took just 36 minutes to move past fifth seed Porntip Buranaprasertsuk 23-21, 21-9.

Though the Thai girl gave tough competition in the first game to Sindhu, who won the title here two years ago, the World No.11 Indian came back in emphatic fashion to demolish Porntip in the second. Next up Sindhu will take on Japanese fourth seed Nozomi Okuhara Saturday.

Meanwhile in men's singles, Jayaram had to first take care of compatriot Aditya Prakash in the third round. The Mumbaikar took 44 minutes to beat Prakash 21-6, 17-21, 21-14 and then proceed to the quarters where he defeated Malaysian Daren Liew 21-16, 21-23, 21-8 in 56 minutes.

Jayaram will face South Korean Jeon Hyeok Jin in the semis.

Earlier, third seed Kashyap had to bite the dust in the third round as he was ousted 21-13, 17-21, 13-21 by Singaporean Derek Wong, who lost the epic 2014 Commonwealth Games final in Glasgow to the same opponent.

Sai also did not have luck by his side as he lost 15-21, 17-21 in 38 minutes to South Korea's Lee Hyun Il in the third round.