Shuttlers Prannoy, Sindhu reach French Open semis

India's H.S. Prannoy entered the semi-finals of theA $325,000 French Open Superseries after defeating South Korea's Jeon Hyeok Jin 21-16, 21, 16 in the men's singles quarter-finals here on Friday.

Earlier, Rio Olympics silver medallist P.V. also stormed into the semi-finals of the women's singles after beating Chinese rising star Chen Yufei in straight games 21-14, 21-14 in a match that lasted for 41 minutes.

Prannoy became the first Indian man to enter the semi-final of the event ever since it became a Superseries in 2007. He took 47 minutes to defeat the South Korean giant killer.

Prannoy will next face the winner between India's Kidambi Srikanth and China's No. 4 seed, Shi Yuqi. On the other hand, this is also Sindhu's maiden last-four appearance in the tournament.

The Hyderabadi dominated the match throughout, except for a brief period in the second game, against her world No. 10 Chinese rival.

It also turned out to be a sweet revenge for the Indian star, who crashed out of last week's Denmark Open after losing to Chen in the opening round.

In the semi-finals on Saturday, Sindhu will face the winner of the match between third seed Sung Ju Hyun of South Korea and fifth seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan. Akane had defeated another Indian Saina Nehwal in the second round.

In men's doubles, the young Indian pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty crashed out after losing 5-21, 21-17, 17-21 to world's top ranked combo of Denmark's Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen in the quarter-finals.

--IANS

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