Experienced Indian shuttler HS Prannoy eased into the quarterfinals of the Australia Open with a fluent win over Misha Zilberman of Israel in a men’s singles second round match here on Thursday.
Prannoy, a former world No.1 and seeded fifth here, took just 46 minutes to get the better of Zilberman 21-17 21-15 in their round of 16 match.
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He will be up against second seed Kodai Naroaka of Japan in the next round.
However, it was curtains for Kiran George in the men’s singles event as he lost 20-22 6-21 against seventh seed Kenta Nishimoto of Japan.
Later in the day, Sameer Verma will be up against eighth seed Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in his men’s singles contest.
Among the Indian women shuttlers, eight seed Aakarshi Kashyap beat Australia’s Kai Qi Bernice Teoh 21-16 21-13 to progress to the quarterfinals, where she will be playing third seed Yu Po Pai of Chinese Taipei.
But the tournament ended for Anupama Upadhyaya and Malvika Bansod in the women’s singles second round.
While Anupama lost 11-21 18-21 against sixth seed Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia, Malvika was shown the door by another Indonesian, eight seed Ester Nurumi Tri Wardoyo 17-21 21-23.
It was also the end of the road for Panda sisters, Rutaparna and Swetaparna, in the women’s doubles. The seventh seeded India pair were shocked 5-21 9-21 by Malaysian combination of Pei Jing Lai and Chiew Sien Lim.
The mixed doubles pair of B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy, however, continued to march ahead as the eighth seeded Indian duo defeated Australia’s Kai Chen Teoh and Kai Qi Bernice Teoh 21-11 21-11 to enter the last-eight.
But a tough tie awaits the mixed doubles pair in the quarterfinals. They will be up against top seeds Zhen Bang Jiang and Ya Xin Wei of China.
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