BWF Hong Kong Open | PV Sindhu enters quarters; Saina Nehwal, HS Prannoy bow out

11/24/2017

PV Sindhu has registered secured a berth in the quarter-finals of the Hong Kong Open with a convincing 21-14, 21-17 win over Japan’s Aya Ohori. However, Saina Nehwal and HS Prannoy were handed defeats by Chen Yuefi and Kazumasa Sakai respectively to bring an end to their campaign in Hong Kong.

Sindhu produced a consummate performance to progress into the quarter-finals with a 21-14, 21-17 win over Aya Ohori on Thursday. It was Sindhu’s third win over the Japanese in as many meetings and she took just 39 minutes to end her opponent's challenge. Sindhu, who slipped a place in the latest world rankings, released yesterday, will face another Japanese player in the form of Akane Yamaguchi in the next round.

However, tenth-ranked Saina’s journey ended in Hong Kong as she failed to cross the hurdle of China’s Chen Yufei in the second round. The eighth-seeded player was handed a 21-18, 19-21, 10-21 loss in the match which was lasted for an hour.

In the men’s singles, World No 10 Prannoy suffered an upset, losing to 23rd ranked Kazumasa Sakai 11-21, 21-10, 21-15 in 54 minutes. Despite being ranked over the Japanese player, Prannoy has never been able to beat his opponent in the three times that they have played.

Parupali Kashyap, Sourabh Verma, and B Sai Praneeth had already seen their campaigns end in the very first round of the competition.