Saina, Sindhu in quarters

Paris, October 24 

The Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty shocked reigning world champions Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan to join PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal in the quarterfinals of the $750,000 French Open here today.

Rankireddy and Shetty, who had claimed their maiden Super 500 title at the Thailand Open in August, notched up a stunning 21-18 18-21 21-13 win over the world No. 2 pair, which won the World Championships in 2013, 2015 and 2019. Rankireddy and Shetty, who had lost to Ahsan and Setiawan at the China Open last year, produced a gallant effort to dispatch their fancied rivals in 53 minutes. The world No. 11 Indian pair will next face Denmark’s Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen.

World champion Sindhu, who made early exits in the last three tournaments in China, South Korea and Denmark, beat Singapore’s Yeo Jia Min 21-10 21-13 in 34 minutes to snap her recent run of early exits and enter the quarterfinals.

The world No. 6 Indian is expected to meet world No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei next.

Eighth-seeded London Olympics bronze medallist Saina, who had won the Indonesia Masters early in the year before going through a rough patch, beat Denmark’s Line Kjaersfeldt 21-10 21-11 in 27 minutes to make it to the last-eight.

The reigning Commonwealth Games champion, who had lost in the first round in the last three events, will next take on An Se Young. The South Korean had last week knocked out Sindhu in the opening round of Denmark Open.

Saina had defeated Hong Kong’s Cheung Ngan Yi 23-21 21-17 in the opening round yesterday. — PTI