Saina, Marin, Praneeth ousted

New Delhi: Defending champion PV Sindhu geared up for an encore at the India Open 2018 by booking a semifinal spot on Saturday. The top seeded Indian and a crowd favourite got past eighth seeded Beatriz Corrales 21-12, 19-21, 21-11 in 54 minutes at the Siri Fort Badminton Indoor Stadium in Delhi. 

The 25-year-old Spaniard did well to claim the second game after losing the first game 21-12; down 13-20, Sindhu, however, fought back by taking six points on the trot. She eventually lost the game, failing to retrieve a shot despite a valiant dive. 

Even as Sindhu provided the finishing touches, sixth seed Cheung Ngan Yi of Hong Kong was pulling off the biggest upset of the women's singles against second seed Carolina Marin 21-12, 21-19 in the adjacent court. Sindhu's semifinal opponent will be former World Champion and third seed Ratchanok Intanon, who handed a 21-11, 21-11 drubbing to seventh seed Yip Up Yin of Hong Kong.

In the other quarterfinal, Saina Nehwal also crashed out after a straight games defeat to USA's Beiwan Zhang 10-21, 13-21 in women's singles match. Meanwhile, the Indian challenge in the men's singles ended, as eighth seed Sai Praneeth, Parupalli Kashyap, Sameer Verma bowed out in straight games to stronger opponents in the quarterfinals. 

While Sai Praneeth lost to third seed Chou Tien Chien of Chinese Taipei 15-21, 13-21, Kashyap went down 16-21, 18-21 to Chinese Qiao Bin. Both winners will clash in the first semifinal on Saturday.

Tien Chien, 28, who was last year's finalist here, held a 3-0 head to head advantage over the Indian and he extended that domination with a fluent victory in 43 minutes.

31-year-old Kashyap, who had lost to Qiao Bin in last year's China Masters, put up a spirited display but failed to get past his world No 35-ranked rival.

Fourth seeded Shi Yuqi too made it to the semis with a clinical 21-13, 21-12 victory over sixth seeded Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei.