Home favourite Pusarla V Sindhu, whose YONEX-SUNRISE India Open loss to Supanida Katethong was the talking point of the tournament, had her revenge within a week as she beat the Thai in the quarterfinals of the Syed Modi India International 2022 on Friday.
It was a close contest in the third game, with the Indian edging ahead, only for the Thai to climb back level. However, Pusarla made the final dash after 17-all, taking the next four points to take her semifinal place, 11-21 21-12 21-17.
The top seed will take on Evgeniya Kosetskaya in the last four as the Russian fifth seed saw off the challenge of Czech Republic’s Teresa Svabikova 21-8 21-14.
In the lower half of the draw, Malvika Bansod beat Aakarshi Kashyap to set up a semifinal against Anupama Upadhyaya.
In men’s singles, Mithun Manjunath won his second close contest in two days beating Russia’s Sergey Sirant 11-21 21-12 21-18. Manjunath faces Frenchman Arnaud Merkle who upset India’s HS Prannoy 21-19 21-16.
The other semifinal will see Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen against another Frenchman, Lucas Claerbout. Nguyen beat Belgium’s Julien Carraggi, while Claerbout held off Malaysia’s Cheam June Wei.
Other Highlights
♦In women’s doubles, local duo Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand Pullela upset second seeds and India Open finalists Anastasiia Akchurina/Olga Morozova 24-22 21-10 to make the semifinals against Malaysia’s Low Yeen Yuan/Valeree Siow, who beat compatriots Vivian Hoo/Lim Chiew Sien in a tight finish.
♦Treesa Jolly also made the semifinals of the mixed doubles, with MR Arjun. The local pair beat French duo William Villeger/Anne Tran 24-22 21-17 and will next face compatriots Ishaan Bhatnagar/Tanisha Crasto.
♦Malaysia’s Man Wei Chong/Tee Kai Wun are the only non-Indian pair left in the men’s doubles semifinals. The Malaysians upset second seeds Vladimir Ivanov/Ivan Sozonov 21-13 21-12 to set up a semifinal against Dhruv Kapila/MR Arjun.