PV Sindhu, HS Prannoy enter quarterfinals of Macau Open

PV Sindhu, seeded fifth, defeated Indonesia’s Lindaweni Fanetri 21-17 21-18 in a women’s singles match that lasted 46 minutes while seventh seed H S Prannoy saw off China’s Qiao Bin 12-21 21-11 21-19 in a gruelling match.

Two-time defending champion P V Sindhu took another step towards retaining her women’s singles title by reaching the quarterfinals of the USD 120,000 Macau Open Grand Prix Gold on Thursday.

Two-time bronze medallist at World Championship, Sindhu, seeded fifth, defeated Indonesia’s Lindaweni Fanetri 21-17 21-18 in a women’s singles match that lasted 46 minutes. The World No. 12 will next take on China’s Chen Yufei.

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In the men’s singles, seventh seed H S Prannoy saw off China’s Qiao Bin 12-21 21-11 21-19 in a gruelling match that lasted an hour and five minutes. He will next play 16th seed Ihsan Maulana Mustofa of Indonesia.

B Sai Praneeth, seeded 15th, defeated Indonesia’s Andre Kurniawan Tedjono 21-15 21-6 in another match and will face Malaysia’s Goh Soon Huat at the Tap Seac Multisport Pavilion Macau on Thursday.

Prannoy showed tremendous tenacity as he bounced back from a game down to win the match.

Qiao dominated the opening game, jumping to 11-3 from 4-3 and continuing his rampaging run after the interval as he moved in giant steps to pocket the game without much ado.

Jolted by the first game loss, Prannoy scripted a brilliant turnover in the second game where he led from the start and slowly crafted his return to the match by closing the second game.

He continued his domination early on in the decider, opening up a 6-0 lead but Qiao fought back to take a slender 11-10 advantage at the break. The Chinese inched ahead to a 14-12 lead but Prannoy never gave up and moved and neck and neck before breaking off at 17-17 to shut the door on Qiao.