Lucknow: The Indonesia/Malaysia combo of Hendra Setiawan/Tan Boon Heong have advanced to the quarter-finals of Syed Modi India Open Grand Prix Gold with a victory over Francis Alwin / Tarun Kona of India 21-11, 21-15 on Thursday.
However, the duo will face a much tougher opponents in the quarter-finals where they will meet No. 1 seeds Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen of Denmark. The Danish pair saw off Indian pair of Harinder Malik / Satinder Malik 21-9, 21-8 in 21 minutes.
Other men’s doubles, Malaysia’s Mohamad Arif Abdul Latif/Lim Khim Wah pulled off an upset by beating No. 3 seeds Manu Attri/Reddy B. Sumeeth of India on Thursday. Latif/Lim will play No. 8 seeds Lu Ching Yao/Yang Po Han of Taiwan next.
In men’s singles, Malaysian No. 7 seed shuttler Zulfadli Zulkiffli was able to dispatch Israel’s No. 13th seed Misha Zilberman 21-15, 21-15 to set up a clash with No. 3 seed Kidambi Srikanth on Friday. Unfortunately, another Malaysian shuttler Chong Wei Feng’s was promptly halted by No. 8 seed Sameer Verma of India, losing 15-21, 16-21.
Both women’s doubles No. 2 seeds Chow Mei Kuan/Lee Meng Yean and No. 3 seeds Lim Yin Loo/Yap Cheng Wen of Malaysia have advanced to the quarter-finals. Lee/Chow will take on Ashwini Ponnappa/Reddy N. Sikki on Friday, while Lim/Yap will battle Sruthi K.P/Haritha Manazhiyil Harinarayanan for a spot in the last four.
Malaysia’s No. 6 seeds mixed doubles pair of Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Jemie Lai were pushed all the way by unseeded Indian pair K. Nandagopal/Mahima Aggarwal before surviving a three-set thriller 16-21, 22-20, 21-16. Goh/Lai will fight No. 1 seeds Joachim Fischer Nielsen/Christinna Pedersen in the quarter-finals.
