Canada Open | Ajay Jayaram, Sai Praneeth, Attri-Sumeeth Reddy advance to semis

Canada Open | Ajay Jayaram, Sai Praneeth, Attri-Sumeeth Reddy advance to semis

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Written by: Arun S Kaimal

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© Twitter - Ajay Jayaram

Top seed Ajay Jayaram and fourth seed B Sai Praneeth stormed into the semi-finals of the Canada Open Grand Prix badminton tournament after securing contrasting wins. Jayaram defeated fellow Indian Harsheel Dani in a hard-fought match, while Praneeth brushed aside Raul Must to enter the last four.

Two-time Dutch Open champion and top seed Ajay Jayaram faced a tough test against fellow Indian shuttler Harsheel Dani in the quarter-final, but got over the line after improving his game in the final game. The opening game saw both players going neck-to-neck initially before World No.24 Jayaram won three points in a row to distance himself from his rival at 9-6. The 28-year-old continued with the three-point lead and won the game 21-18.

Dani turned the tables in the second game and won five back-to-back points to take a 9-4 lead. Similar to the first game, the initial lead proved to be the difference between the two, and although the top seed won points at the end to come back into the match, 19-year-old Dani held on to win the game 21-19 to level it up in the match. However, the youngster found it tough against his experienced rival in the final game as Jayaram turned on his style to ease past Dani. The top seed led from the start to the finish and won the match by taking the final game 21-8. Jayaram will next face third seed Lee Hyun-il in the semi-final.

Jayaram was also joined by fellow Indian and fourth seed B Sai Praneeth in the last-four after he brushed aside Raul Must of Estonia 21-14, 21-16 in 33 minutes. However, second seed HS Prannoy’s run in the tournament ended in the quarter-final after he was defeated by seventh-seeded Frenchman Brice Leverdez 22-20, 21-23, 18-21.

In the women’s singles, Ruthvika Shivani Gadde’s and Tanvi Lad’s campaign also ended in the quarter-finals. Ruthvika went down 16-21 12-21 to fourth seed Linda Zetchiri of Bulgaria, while Tanvi Lad was beaten by third seed Iris Wang of USA 16-21, 21-15, 10-21.

In the men’s doubles, top seeds Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy entered the last-four after they received a walkover from Canada’s Ted (Chin Tai) Chen and Chinese Taipei’s Liao Chao-Hsiang. Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy will next face Indonesia’s Andrei Adistia and Canada’s Dong Adam (Xingyu) in the semi-final.

In women’s doubles, Rio Olympics-bound Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa gave a walkover to Leanne Choo of Australia and Rachel Honderich of Canada to exit the tournament. In the mixed doubles, Manu Attri and Ashwini Ponnappa also gave a walkover to fourth-seeded Nico Ruponen and Amanda Hogstrom of Sweden.

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