Singapore Open Badminton: PV Sindhu, HS Prannoy Enter Quarterfinals

Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy registered fighting wins to enter quarterfinals at the BWF Singapore Open 2022 in Singapore on Thursday. (More Badminton News)

Third seed PV Sindhu survived a three-game slugfest against Vietnam's world number 59, Thuy Linh Nguyen. The Indian shuttler won 19-21, 21-19, 21-18 in one hour and six minutes.

This was their first-ever meeting. The two-time Olympic medallist will meet China's Han Yue for a place in the women's singles semi-finals.

HS Prannoy, ranked world number 19, survived a three-game thriller against third seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei. In a match lasting one hour and nine minutes, the Indian shuttler won 14-21, 22-20, 21-18.

Prannoy has won back-to-back matches against the world number four, and their head-to-head record now stands 4-2 in the favour of the Chinese Taipei shuttler. At Malaysia Open 2022 last month, Prannoy had defeated Tien Chen in straight games, 21-15, 21-7.

The 29-year-old Indian will face Japan's Kodai Naraoka next.

But it was curtains for unheralded Mithun Manjunath, who had sensationally defeated compatriot Kidambi Srikanth in the previous round. 

The 24-year-old Indian lost to Ireland's Nhat Nguyen in one hour and 12 minutes (10-21, 21-18, 16-21) after fighting back to win the second game. This was their first meeting.

Ashmita Chaliha, who had defeated Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan, also lost her round of 16 match to Han Yue of China in 25 minutes (9-21, 13-21).

The mixed doubles team of Nitin HV and Poorvisha S Ram also failed to put up a fight against the world number six pair of Mark Lamsfuss and Isabel Lohau of Germany. The Indian pair lost 14-21, 13-21 in 25 minutes.

Later in the day, Saina Nehwal and the men's doubles team of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila will take the court for their respective round of 16 matches.