India’s Ashwini Ponnappa and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy entered the mixed doubles semifinals of the Dutch Open Grand Prix in Almere, Netherlands with a straight game win over their opponents Scott Evans (Ireland) and Amanda Hogstorm (Sweden).
Ponnappa and Satwik have been in good form through out the tournament where they entered as qualifiers and it showed in their win against the Irish-Swedish pair as they took just 32 minutes to wrap up the quarter-final encounter 21-18, 21-14.
The Indian duo, who have started playing together regularly since the World Championships in Glasgow, overcame a tight first game where the teams exchanged breaks right from the start. With the game tied 18-18, however, Ponnappa and Satwik won three straight points to take the first game 21-18.
The second game was more comfortable for the pair currently ranked 129 in the world. After a neck-to-neck start that saw the scores level at 7-7, Ponnappa and Satwik won 14 of the next 21 points to book their place in the semi-final.
This run for the Indian team comes on the heel of a creditable second round showing at the Japan Open series. They also made the main draw in the Korea Open preceding that.
The eighth-seeded pair of Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith from England await Ponnappa and Satwik in the final four on Saturday.
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