Sindhu stands tall

Hong Kong, November 23 

Second seed PV Sindhu sailed into the women’s singles quarterfinals while Saina Nehwal crashed out of the Hong Kong Open Superseries here today.

Sindhu, who slipped a place to number three in the world rankings released today, defeated Japan’s Aya Ohori 21-14 21-17 in a second-round match lasting 39 minutes. It was Sindhu’s third win over the Japanese in as many meetings. The Indian faces another Japanese player, winner of last week’s China Open and fifth seed Akane Yamaguchi, in the quarterfinals tomorrow.

World No. 10 Saina, however, ran out of steam to lose to eighth-seeded Chinese Chen Yufei 21-18 19-21 10-21 in a second-round match lasting an hour. This was their first meeting.

It was curtains for India in the men’s singles event after 10th-ranked HS Prannoy went down to Japan’s Kazumasa Sakai 21-11 10-21 15-21 in a 54-minute battle. The 23-ranked Sakai got the better of Prannoy for the third time in as many matches.

Parupalli Kashyap and Sourabh Verma had lost in the opening round yesterday.  — PTI