Toyota Thailand Open 2021: PV Sindhu and 3 Indians move into the quarterfinals
It was a good day for the Indian shuttlers as PV Sindhu and
3 other Indians moved into the quarterfinals of Toyota Super 1000 Thailand Open
played in Bangkok, Thailand on Thursday.
After stunning the eight seeded Lee Jii Zia of
Malaysia, Sameer Verma defeated Rasmus Gemke of Denmark in two straight sets.
Sameer looked in great touch right from the word go and put
the Denmark player under pressure. The Indian showed domination to take an 11-5
lead at the interval. After the mid-game interval, Sameer continued his
aggression keeping the pressure on the opponent winning the first game at 21-12.
In the second game, Gemke started off brightly with 3-1 and
5-3 leads but Sameer Verma fought back strongly to level the scores at 6-6. The
Indian never looked back from there winning the second set easily at 21-9 to
move into the quarterfinals. He will
take on 3rd seeded Anders Anderson of Denmark.
The mixed doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Satwiksairaj
RankiReddy defeated the higher-ranked German Mark Lamsfuss and Isabel Herttich
in three exciting games.
In the opening game, the German pair started off brightly
taking a 6-2 lead as the Indian pair committed errors. Ponnappa and RankiReddy
were gifted some points by the German pair to equal the scores at 7-7. The
Indian pair played with intent to level the scores at 9-9. At the interval,
Lamsfuss and Herttich took a slender 11-9 lead. After the interval, the German
pair looked in control, but the Indian pair made a strong comeback as both pairs
took alternate points till 19-19. Lamsfuss and Herttich had a game point but
the Indian pair showed their power to take the first game at 22-20.
The second game saw the German pair started off aggressively
again and kept the pressure on the Indian pair. Lamsfuss and Herttich showed
their class taking an 11-6 lead at the interval. After the mid-game interval,
the German pair kept on picking points with ease as Indians committed mistakes.
Despite Ponnappa and Reddy taking points at the end, the German pair won the
second game at 21-14 to force the match into the decider.
In the final and deciding game, the German pair began off
brightly with a 6-2 lead. Ponnappa and Reddy made a strong comeback into the
game to level the scores at 9-9. The German pair took 2 points in succession to
take an 11-9 at the interval. After the interval, Ponnappa and Reddy played with
aggression taking 3 points in succession to take the lead for the first time.
The Indian pair showed their class and kept on the pressure making sure that
they secure the third set at 21-16 to move into the quarterfinals. They will
take on Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying of Malaysia.
The men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj RankiReddy and Chirag
Shetty went past the Korean pair of Choi Soi Gyu and Seo Seung Jee in two sets.
In the opening game, RankiReddy and Chirag Shetty started
off aggressively taking an early 5-1 lead. The Korean pair made a strong
comeback into the game by taking points in succession to level the scores at
7-7. Both pairs took alternate points as the Indian pair took a slender 11-10 lead at
the interval. After the interval, both pairs fought for each point till 16-16.
The Indian pair showed great badminton skills and won the first game at 21-18.
The second set saw the match swinging from one end to
another with both pairs taking alternate points. After the interval also, both
showed their class and kept on taking points till 21-21. The Indian pair held
their nerves to win the second game at 23-21 to move into the quarterfinals.
They will face Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi of Malaysia.
PV Sindhu eased past through Malaysian Kisona Selvaduray in
two straight sets by 21-12, 21-10 to move into the quarterfinals. It was a
dominating performance by the Indian who took 35 minutes to finish the game.
She will take on the fourth-seeded Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand.
After upsetting Jonathan Christie in the first round, HS
Prannoy went down fighting to Daren Liew of Malaysia in two straight sets.
The first game saw Prannoy taking a 4-2 lead before Liew
played with aggression and kept the pressure on the Indian. It was a dominating
by the Malaysian who took an 11-7 lead at the interval. After the mid-game interval,
Liew continued his domination over Prannoy and won the first game at 21-17.
It was a much closer fought match in the second game as
Prannoy had a decent lead before Liew leveled the scores and took an 11-10 lead
at the interval. After the interval, Malaysian showed his class taking a
commanding 18-14 lead before Prannoy took 4 points in succession to level the
scores at 18-18. The Malaysian took 3 points in succession to win the 2nd
set at 21-18.
The young Indian pair of Dhruv Kapila and MR Arjun were completely
outplayed by Ben Lane and Sean Vendy of England in two straight sets by 9-21, 11-21.
It was a disappointing performance by Dhruv and Arjun who made unforced errors.
Vendy and Lane took advantage taking a resounding 11-4 lead at the
interval. After the break, it was one-way traffic as the England pair won the
first set easily at 21-9.
Dhruv and Arjun showed some fight in the early stages of the
second game. Despite their efforts, Vendy and Lane won the match easily by
21-11 to move into the quarterfinals.
PV Sindhu and 3 more Indians qualify into the quarterfinals of Super 1000 Thailand Open 2021
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