Pranaav-Sikki reach semis; Srikanth, Prannoy lose in Japan Open

India's mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N. Sikki Reddy reached the semi-finals, while the men's singles shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and H.S. Prannoy fell in the quarter-finals of the $325,000 Japan Open Superseries here on Friday.

Pranaav-Sikki got the better of South Koreans Seung Jae Seo and Kim Ha Na 21-18, 9-21, 21-19 in 58 minutes.

The Indian pair will have a good chance to advance to the final as they will meet Japanese qualifiers Takuro Hoki and Sayaka Hirota on Saturday.

The performance of Pranaav and Sikki was the only positive for India on a day which saw Prannoy and Srikanth lose. Olympic silver medallists P.V. Sindhu and Saina Nehwal lost on Thursday in the quarter-finals.

Srikanth lost to recently crowned world champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark 17-21, 17-21 in 40 minutes.

Prannoy lost to Chinese second seed Shi Yuqi 15-21, 14-21 in 45 minutes.

Yuqi will meet Malaysian veteran Lee Chong Wei in the semi-finals, while the other semi-final will be fought between third seed Axelsen and South Korean top seed Son Wan Ho, who ended Chinese veteran Lin Dan's challenge with a 21-15, 21-15 victory.

The women's singles semi-finals will see 2016 Olympic champion Carolina Marin of Spain taking on recently crowned world champion and local favourite Nozomi Okuhara and Chinese sixth seed He Bingjiao facing compatriot Chen Yufei.

--IANS

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