Swiss Open badminton: Jayaram, Sai Praneeth, Sindhu in quarters

Jayaram, who currently has a world ranking of 60, beat the 12th ranked Gemke 21-18, 17-21, 21-13 to set up a match against Thai eighth seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn.

Basel: India’s Ajay Jayaram on Thursday stunned Swiss third seed Rasmus Gemke to reach the quarter-finals of the Swiss Open Super 300 badminton tournament. Later in the day, B Sai Praneeth, too, entered the quarter-finals.

Jayaram, who currently has a world ranking of 60, beat the 12th ranked Gemke 21-18, 17-21, 21-13 to set up a match against Thai eighth seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn.

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Sai Praneeth got the better of Spain’s Pablo Abian 21-12, 21-17 to enter the last-eight stage.

Reigning women’s world champion P.V. Sindhu cruised into the last-eight stage with a straight games win over USA’s Iris Wang. Second seed Sindhu saw off the 40th-ranked Iris 21-13, 21-14 in a match that lasted 35 minutes.

Sindhu earlier beat Turkish world No. 29 Neslihan Yigit in straight games and now faces a tricky match-up with Thai fifth seed Busanan Ongbamrungphan in the quarter-finals.

In a late evening match, world’s 10th ranked Satwik SaiRaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated Indonesia’s Pramudya Kusumawardana and Yeremia Erich Yoche Yacob Rambitan 21-17 20-22 21-17 to advance to the quarterfinals.

In a mixed doubles second-round match, also played in the evening, Satwik SaiRaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponappa beat Indonesian pair Rinov Rivaldy and Pitha Haningtyas Mentari 21-18 21-16.

Earlier in the day, Kidambi Srikanth beat France’s Thomas Rouxel in three games to enter the quarter-finals. Srikanth beat Rouxel 21-10, 14-21, 21-14 in 52 minutes. He will now face Thai sixth seed Kantaphon Wangcharoen, who beat the Netherlands’ Mark Caljouw 21-9, 21-16.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa also eased into the quarter-finals in the mixed doubles category after beating Indonesia’s Rinov Rivaldy and Pitha Haningtyas Mentari 21-18, 21-16. Rankireddy and Ponnappa had earlier stunned Indonesian second seeds Hafiz Faizal and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja in their first round tie on the first day of the tournament on Wednesday.

Sourabh Verma’s campaign in Basel came to an end as he lost 17-21, 14-21 to Thai eighth seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn.

Rankireddy and Shetty had secured a hard fought 21-18, 19-21, 21-16 win over Scotland’s Christopher and Matthew Grimley on Wednesday.