Sindhu, Prannoy advance to the quarter-finals of the Malaysia Open

The third day of the Super 750 series title saw a few big upsets in some categories.

The Malaysia Open Super 750 carried on will full-swing on Day 3 as the players looked forward to sealing quarter-final spots. The contention was intense across all the disciplines. The day also witnessed some major upsets when the potential podium finishers were handed an early exit.

Let’s have a look at the results turned out on the third day of the Malaysia Open.

PV Sindhu stormed into quarter-finals, will be up against Tai Tzu Ying.

The day began with the two-time Olympic medallist Pusarla Venkata Sindhu taking on Phittayaporn Chaiwan of Thailand. The latter began well by taking the first game 21-19 but the former World No. 2 controlled the momentum and speedily bounced back in the second game 21-9. In the end, Sindhu didn’t allow her opponent to come back in the game and closed the match 19-21, 21-9, 21-14.

With this win, the former World Champion also booked a quarter-final berth. She will be up against her arch-nemesis Tai Tzu Ying. The game against the Chinese Taipei shuttler is likely to be a tricky battle for her. Tai Tzu Ying enjoys an impressive head-to-head record between the two champions. She has 15 wins and only five losses against Sindhu.

H.S Prannoy staged an impressive upset against Chou Tien Chen.

Indian ace H.S Prannoy emerged victorious against Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen in fine fashion. The Chinese Taipei shuttler was expected to have an edge over his opponent as he had enjoyed a one-sided 4-1 head-to-head record until the game in Malaysia Open. However, the Indian shuttler had other plans as he sought to turn the tables.

Prannoy started to play aggressively right from the beginning and outpaced Chou with his attack. He then went on to seal the opening game 21-15. In the second game, it seemed that the World No.4 would bounce back but he turned out to have no answers to Prannoy's smashes. Prannoy breezed past in the second game to hand Chou Tien Chen a straight-game defeat by 21-15, 21-7.

Parupalli Kashyap, on the other hand lost to Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand. The experienced Indian shuttler was unable to match the pace of Vitidsarn’s movement as he lost in two straight games 21-19, 21-10.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty withdrew in the second round

Indian no.1 men's pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty pulled out of their pre-quarter-final showing after Satwik reported an injury before the match. The duo addressed that they wanted to prepare themselves for the upcoming Commonwealth Games.

On the other hand, the Indian women’s doubles pair of Srivedya Gurazada and Ishika Jaiswal lost to Febby Gani and Ribika Sugiarto of Indonesia. This defeat also ended the doubles contention of the Indian team across all the disciplines.

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