PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty all advanced to the quarter-finals of the French Open Super 750 tournament in Paris on Thursday. While Sindhu and Saina pulled off easy wins over lower-ranked opponents, Rankireddy and Chirag stunned Indonesian world number 2 pair Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan in the second round.
Saina’s was the first match of the day among the Indian contingent. She beat Denmark’s Line Hojmark 21-10 21-11 in a match that lasted just 27 minutes to go through to the quarters. She will next face South Korean An Se Young, who had knocked out Sindhu last week in the first round of the Denmark Open.
Sindhu, on the other hand, beat World Number 26 Yeo Jia Min 21-10, 21-13. The match lasted 34 minutes and the 24-year-old reigning world champion could next face either Taiwanese top seed Tai Tzu Ying or South Korea’s Kim Ga Eun in the quarter-finals.
While Saina had beaten Hong Kong’s Cheung Ngan Yi in the first round on Wednesday, Sindhu defeated Canada’s Michelle Li in her opening match that was played on Tuesday.
Rankireddy and Chirag’s match against Ahsan and Setiawan lasted 53 minutes. They won the match 21-16, 21-23, 23-21 and will next face Danish world no 8 Kim Astrup and Anders Rasmussen.