Chinese Taipei’s Lee Yang enjoyed a successful day at the Yonex-Sunrise India Open 2019, entering two semifinals today.

In the mixed doubles quarterfinals, Lee and Yang Ching Tun beat young Chinese pair Ren Xiangyu and Zhou Chaomin 21-16 21-17; Lee returned later for his men’s doubles match with Wang Chi-Lin and duly completed a 21-10 21-17 victory over Ren and Ou Xuanyi.

Match of the Day

The men’s singles quarterfinal between Kidambi Srikanth and Sai Praneeth was a tight affair, with Kidambi prevailing 21-23 21-11 21-19.

“After losing the first game and being 1-7 down in the second to coming back in the lead was the turning point,” said Kidambi.

“I gave him too many one-stroke points and there were no rallies so I thought of building rallies and fighting it out for every point and not to give any easy points.”

Other close contest was seen in mixed doubles with Indonesia’s Praveen Jordan/Melati Daeva Oktavianti surviving a match point against Russia’s Rodion Alimov/Alina Davletova.

The Russians grabbed a close first game and were 20-19 ahead in the second before the Indonesians edged them 22-20. They carried on with the momentum to register a 19-21 22-20 21-13 result and will play Lee/Yang in the semifinals.

The top half of the draw will see Wang Yilyu/Huang Dongping (China) against another Indonesian pair, Hafiz Faizal/Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja.

Other Results

• Men’s singles second seed Viktor Axelsen stopped HS Prannoy 21-10 21-16 and faces another Indian, Parupalli Kashyap, in the semifinals.
• Two former women’s singles champions, Pusarla V Sindhu and Ratchanok Intanon, made the semifinals in opposite halves. Pusarla beat Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt 21-19 22-20, while Intanon outplayed Thai compatriot Busanan Ongbamrungphan 21-18 21-19.
• In women’s doubles, Greysia Polii/Apriyani Rahayu and Della Destiara Haris/Tania Oktaviani Kusumah beat Ashwini Ponnappa/Sikki Reddy (India) and Vivian Hoo/Yap Cheng Wen (Malaysia) respectively in straight games to ensure an all-Indonesian semifinal.

Pusarla lifts home crowd 🔥🔥 🇮🇳 #HSBCBWFbadminton #HSBCRaceToGuangzhou pic.twitter.com/YG6G1ZDagC

— BWF (@bwfmedia) March 29, 2019

Talking Point

“I have competed against Sindhu a lot of times. She is a tough opponent. So I am a little nervous ahead of the match. I know she is an attacking player with good pace and the crowd will also get behind her. I will try my best,” – He Bingjiao, after ensuring her semifinal showdown with Pusarla V Sindhu.