Jayaram, Rituparna enter pre-quarterfinals of Vietnam Open

Jayaram, who had finished runners-up at White Nights, defeated Indonesia’s Gatjra Piliang Fiqihila Cupu 21-7, 21-16 to set up a clash with top seeded Brazilian Ygor Coelho.

Ajay Jayaram is action. (File Photo)

Indian shuttlers Ajay Jayaram and Rituparna Das progressed to the pre-quarterfinals of the USD 75,000 Vietnam Open Tour Super 100 tournament on Wednesday.

Jayaram, who had finished runners-up at White Nights, defeated Indonesia’s Gatjra Piliang Fiqihila Cupu 21-7, 21-16 to set up a clash with top seeded Brazilian Ygor Coelho, who staved off a spirited challenge from India’s Siril Verma.

Coelho defeated Siril 22-20, 17-21, 21-17 in another match. Earlier, Siril had defeated compatriot Shreyansh Jaiswal 21-17, 21-16.

In women’s singles, former national champion Rituparna beat Japan’s Shiori Saito 21-13, 21-14.

However, other Indians who disappointed include Rasika Raje, Mugdha Agrey, Vaidehi Choudhari and mixed doubles pairs - Shivam Sharma and Poorvisha S Ram (sixth seeds) and Dhruv Kapila and Meghana Jakkampudi.

Rasika went down to Malaysia’s Yen Mei Ho 16-21, 13-21, Mugdha lost 13-21, 12-21 to China’s seventh seed Han Yue and Vaidehi suffered a 14-21, 13-21 loss to USA’s Crystal Pan.

Japanese pair of Tadayuki Urai and Rena Miyaura beat sixth seed Shivam Sharma and Poorvisha S Ram 21-15, 21-16 while Chinese pair of Jiang Zhenbang and Chen Yingxue ended Indian combination of Dhruv Kapila and Meghana Jakkampudi 21-17, 18-21, 23-21 in another match.

Mithun Manjunath, who had reached the quarters at Russian Open, had beaten Japan’s Ryotaro Maruo 11-21, 21-14, 21-15.