Shuttlers Jayaram, Pawar, Manu-Sumeeth reach US Open quarters

Promising Indian shuttlers Ajay Jayaram and Anand Pawar won their men's singles matches to reach the quarter-finals of the US Open Grand Prix Gold but it was curtains for fifth seed H.S. Prannoy, B. Sai Praneeth, Pratul Joshi and Tanvi Lad who lost their second-round matches here.

In men's doubles, Rio-bound Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy continued their winning run to reach the last four along with women's combo of Meghana Jakkampudi and S. Poorvisha Ram on Thursday.

However, 2010 Commonwealth Games women's champions duo of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa gave a walkover to bow out of the tournament.

In men's singles, fourth seeded Jayaram took just 31 minutes to beat Portugal's Pedro Martins 21-11, 21-15 in straight games as did Pawar, who too won his game convincingly, beating fellow countryman Joshi 21-11, 21-13 in just 35 minutes. Jayaram will now take on Pawar in the quarters.

It was, however, the end of the road for Prannoy, who went down 23-25, 21-23 to South Korea's Lee Hyun II in a 49-minute contest. Sixth seeded Praneeth went down fighting 21-13, 17-21, 20-22 to Japan's Kazumasa Sakai in an hour-long battle.

In women's singles, Tanvi lost in straight games 17-21, 15-21 to fifth seeded Beiwen Zhang to bow out of the competition.

The doubles combo of Attri and Reddy continued their fine run, beating Japan's Yuta Watanabe and Kenya Mitsuhashi in straight games 23-21, 21-13 to set up a clash with another Japanese pair of Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi in the quarters.

Women's doubles pair of Meghana Jakkampudi and S. Poorvisha Ram beat local girls Ariel Lee and Sydney Lee 21-16, 21-6 in just 18 minutes to set up a clash with another second seeded local pair of Eva Lee and Paula Lynn Obanana.

--IANS

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