US Open Badminton: Parupalli Kashyap sets up blockbuster quarter-final meeting with Sameer Verma

A blockbuster all-Indian quarter-final clash was set up as Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap and fifth seed Sameer Verma both won their respective third round matches at the $120,000 Yonex US Open Grand Prix Gold in Anaheim, California on Thursday.

Verma, seeded fifth, had a tough encounter against the ninth seed Ygor Coelho of Brazil. The Syed Modi International winner had to come back from a game down to notch up an 18-21, 21-14, 21-18 win in 1 hour.

This is Sameer’s first tournament since recovering from a shoulder injury that had kept him out for three months.

Kashyap’s third round outing, in contrast, was a breeze. The 30-year-old prevailed over the 16th seeded Niluka Karunaratne of Sri Lanka, 21-19, 21-10.

This will be Kashyap and Sameer’s first meeting since the India Grand Prix in 2010 which the former won in straight games.

Prannoy also victorious

Apart from them, second seed HS Prannoy also made it to the quarter-finals, courtesy of a 21-8, 14-21, 21-16 win over the 12th seed Mark Caljouw of The Netherlands. He next meets the eighth seed Kanta Tsuneyama for a place in the semi-finals.

Earlier in the day, Prannoy beat Joshua Magee convincingly, 21-13, 21-17 in his second round match. Verma had to fight hard for a 21-19, 25-27, 21-15 win over Croatia’s World No. 104 Zvonimir Durkinjak.

Kashyap had it the easiest of the three as his opponent, Gergely Krausz of Hungary, retired while trailing, 18-21, 6-17.

Harsheel Dani did not share the same fortunes and bowed out with a 25-27, 9-21 loss to the 15th seed Tien Minh Nguyen of Vietnam.

In women’s singles, national champion Rituparna Das succumbed to a 15-21, 20-22 defeat to the seventh seed Natalia Koch Rohde.

Attri-Reddy in quarter-finals

In men’s doubles, third seeds Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy made it to the quarter-finals with a comfortable 21-16, 21-9 win over the Indonesian pair of Hendra Tandjaya and Androw Yunanto.

The seventh seeds Hiroki Okamura and Masayuki Onodera loom large for them in the last-eight. The Japanese team outlasted the Indian combine of Tarun Kona and Alwin Francis 21-19, 9-21, 21-14 in the second round.

Elsewhere, Meghana Jakkampudi and Poorvisha S Ram were beaten 18-21, 9-21 by the seventh seeds Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara in Round 2 of women’s doubles.

India’s challenge also ended in mixed doubles where Attri and K Maneesha lost 16-21, 12-21 to the fourth seeded pair of Goh Soon Huat and Shevon Jemie Lai.