Sindhu, Prannoy enter quarterfinals

Jakarta: Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu celebrated her 23rd birthday with a straight-game win over Japan's Aya Ohori, while H S Prannoy eked out a three-game victory over Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei to enter the quarterfinals of the $1,250,000 Indonesia Open here on Thursday.

The World No 3, who had reached the semifinals at Malaysia Open last week, did not break much sweat as she defeated Ohori, ranked 17th, 21-17, 21-14 in a 36-minute women's singles match. This is Sindhu's fifth win over the Japanese in as many meetings.

Prannoy recovered from an opening game loss to outwit Wang 21-23, 21-15, 21-13 in an entertaining men's singles contest that lasted an hour. He is likely to meet third seed and All England champion Shi Yuqi of China.

In the opening game, World No. 17 Wang opened up a 14-10 lead but Prannoy soon narrowed it down to 13-14 with the help of two good-looking smashes and a quick return to serve.

Wang again curved out a 17-14 advantage with a cross court smash. Prannoy gained two more points at the net and clawed back at 19-19 after Wang went out. Another precise return at the back line handed him a game point but he squandered it.

Prannoy made a judgemental error and miscued a net return before a lucky net chord helped Wang to pocket the opening game.

Prannoy upped his game after the change of ends and moved to a 11-8 lead after Wang found the net. The Indian extended his lead to 17-12 with few swift returns. Eventually two successive net errors by Wang helped Prannoy to bounce back in the contest.

In the decider, Prannoy was more aggressive as he zoomed to a 10-2 lead but also made few easy errors to allow Wang claw back t0 5-10 before a mistimed shot at the net by the Chinese Taipei shuttler gave Prannoy a healthy 11-5 lead at the break.

The Indian continued to rule the roast after the breather as he led 19-13. Wang hit wide and next failed to return another angled return from Prannoy to hand over the match to the
Indian.