Macau Open | Saina Nehwal, Sai Praneeth through to quarters

No.1 seed Saina Nehwal started the match on the front foot and raced to a 12-8 lead in the opening game against Dinar Dyah Ayustine of Indonesia. However, the World no.51 showed a lot of resistance and came from behind to win the first game 21-17. It seemed like the second game would have a similar story when Saina's lead at 18-12 was cut down to 18-18 by the Indonesian, but this time the Indian lifted her game and won the final three points in a row to level the match. With the momentum on her back, Saina cruised through the deciding third game 21-12 to book her place in the quarters, where she will face Yiman Zhang of China.

In the men’s draw, Parupalli Kashyap, who was making his return to competitive badminton after recovering from a knee injury, lost to Lin Yu Hsien 13-21, 20-22. The first game was one-sided, but Kashyap did put up some fight in the second where he was a point away from winning the game at 20-19. However, the Chinese Taipei shuttler won three points in a row to claim the game and the match.

Later in the day, Sai Praneeth won against the higher-ranked Vincent Wong 21-15, 21-17 to progress to the quarters. Praneeth, who last faced Wong in 2012, won the first game comfortably and came back from a deficit of 2-7 to win the second game. He will now face a much easier opponent in Zhao Jun Peng of China in the quarters.

In the men’s doubles, Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy lost a hard-fought battle against Danny Bawa Chrisnanta and Hendra Wijaya 20-22, 19-21 after squandering chances to win both the games.