Ajay, Prannoy among Indians who reached quarters in Canada

In the women’s singles, 2015 National Champion Ruthvika Shivani Gadde edged past Austria’s Elisabeth Baldauf 24-22, 21-18 to set up a fight with fourth seeded Linda Zetchiri of Bulgaria.

Top seed Ajay Jayaram brushed aside Austria’s David Obernosterer 21-10, 21-12 to set up a last-eight clash with fellow Indian Harsheel Dani, who defeated compatriot Pratul Joshi 21-9, 21-18 in a men’s singles match.

Indian shuttlers continued their good run at the Canada Open with six singles players, including Ajay Jayaram and H. S. Prannoy, reaching the quarterfinals of the USD 55,000 Grand Prix badminton tournament, here.

Top seed Ajay Jayaram brushed aside Austria’s David Obernosterer 21-10, 21-12 to set up a last-eight clash with fellow Indian Harsheel Dani, who defeated compatriot Pratul Joshi 21-9, 21-18 in a men’s singles match.

In another pre-quarterfinal match, second seed H. S. Prannoy recovered from a second game slump to eke out a hard-fought 21-18, 18-21, 21-12 win over Canada’s BR Sankeerth.

He will face seventh seed Brice Leverdez of France next.

Fourth seed B. Sai Praneeth, too, reached the quarterfinals after beating Canada’s Wenchao Shi 21-19, 21-12.

He will face eighth seed Raul Must of Estonia, who eliminated R. M. V. Gurusaidutt, beating the Indian 21-12, 7-21, 21-17.

In the women’s singles, 2015 National Champion Ruthvika Shivani Gadde edged past Austria’s Elisabeth Baldauf 24-22, 21-18 to set up a fight with fourth seeded Linda Zetchiri of Bulgaria.

Senior Nationals runners-up Tanvi Lad saw off USA’s Maya Chen 21-14, 21-15 to set up a meeting with another American Iris Wang, seeded third.

Rio-bound women’s doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa will take on Australia’s Leanne Choo and Rachel Honderich of Canada in the quarterfinals after the top seeds were given a bye in the first round.

Top seeded men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy will take on Canada’s Ted Chin Tai Chen and Chinese Taipei’s Liao Chao Hsiang. The Rio-bound Indian men’s pair defeated local combo of Timothy Chiu and Jason Ho-Shue 21-8, 21-10 in a pre-quarterfinal match.

Mixed doubles pair of Manu Attri and Ashwini Ponnappa defeated Canadian combo of Jonathan Lai and Michelle Tong 21-14, 21-12 and will square up against fourth seeds Nico Ruponen and Amanda Hogstrom of Sweden.

Another Indian women’s doubles pair of Jakkampudi Meghana and S. Poorvisha Ram will face Chinese Taipei’s Hung Yi-Ting and Su Hsiang Ling after getting a bye in the opening round.