7.15 pm: So, here’s the semifinal lineup on Court 1 for Saturday. Five matches featuring Indians, how many can reach finals? Will Sindhu take one step closer to ending a title wait? Will Aakarshi be able to pull off a big win? Can Lakshya Sen and Loh Kean Yew set up a mouth-watering final?
That concludes the day’s action.
Women’s singles: India-Thailand in both the matches tomorrow. Will really be quite something if we get an all-India final from here.
Women’s doubles: We missed this earlier, there is a fourth semifinalist from India for tomorrow. Ashna Roy and Haritha are through to the last four in the women’s doubles after a win in the all-India tie. Mixed doubles is the only category without any Indian representation tomorrow (the Covid-19 withdrawals didn’t help)
One more match left for Indians, after the ongoing men’s singles tie where Kim Bruun is battling it out with Brian Yang, 19-21, 13-14 at the moment.
Men’s doubles Satwik-Chirag into the semifinals! Symmetry in the scoreline as they edge ahead in a close battle against Loh Kean Hean & Hee Yong Kai Terry 21-18, 21-18 in 39 mins. Great match, that. Two well contested games, proper men’s doubles tie that. Satwik-Chirag had to work even harder in the second game but eventually close it out.
Men’s doubles: Once again it is going one point one way and the next at the moment. 17-17!
Men’s doubles: Proper rollercoaster this at the moment. Satwik-Chirag closed down a big lead and then had the lead at the interval, but Hee/Loh have pushed ahead again.
Men’s doubles: The Singaporeans staying ahead consistently in the second game, 3-4 point leads. Satwik-Chirag have closed it down to 7-9 now.
Men’s doubles: Satwik-Chirag take the opening game after a see-saw battle against Loh Kean Hean & Hee Yong Kai Terry. Just pushed ahead at the end after a brilliant exchange of points in the middle phase. Like most men’s doubles contests are, it was close just till the closing stages of the game when one pair pulls ahead. Satwik-Chirag clinch it 21-18.
Men’s doubles: Super close battle this, one point at a time either way. 17-17.
Men’s doubles: The Singaporeans are back level, errors creeping in for the Indian pair. 13-13 after the SGP pair took the lead briefly.
Men’s doubles: Satwik-Chirag take a 11-8 lead at the interval in the opening game against Loh Kean Hean & Hee Yong Kai Terry from Singapore.
In the press conference: Lakshya Sen says the first game was really close and played a high pace by both of them, but once he started getting more patient and the pace slowed down, he was able to control. Had physically a bit more at the end than Prannoy. Adds at the end that he personally hopes to break into the top 10 this year (provided rankings are unfrozen and all that).
Loh Kean Yew is almost done with his match... and soon after, his brother will be on court in the men’s doubles, taking on Satwik-Chirag.
In case you missed a little while earlier...
Men’s singles quarterfinals, HS Prannoy 21-14, 9-21, 14-21 Lakshya Sen: Here’s how the decider unfolded. Lakshya pulled away at the end.
Men’s singles quarterfinals, HS Prannoy 21-14, 9-21, 14-21 Lakshya Sen: A terrific net exchange and Lakshya wins the match as the match clock strikes one hour! Impressive from the youngster. Warm embrace at the end.
Men’s singles quarterfinals, HS Prannoy vs Lakshya Sen: Terrific rally, flat exchanges and HSP saves one match point. 14-20.
Men’s singles quarterfinals, HS Prannoy vs Lakshya Sen: Oh LS is bringing out the trick serves! One over HSP’s head and he has a 19-13 lead. Soon enough, 7 match points.
Men’s singles quarterfinals, HS Prannoy vs Lakshya Sen: Lakshya seems to have a little bit more in his tank at the moment. Leads 15-12 in the decider.
Men’s singles quarterfinals, HS Prannoy vs Lakshya Sen: Lakshya Sen has a 11-9 lead at the final change of ends against HS Prannoy. This is heading for a thrilling finish.
Women’s singles quarterfinals, PV Sindhu 21-7, 21-18 Ashmita Chaliha: Ashmita Chaliha saves a couple of match points but Sindhu ups the pace of the rally immediately and clinches the match in straight games. Credit to Ashmita for that 2nd game performance, showed why she is so highly rated.
Women’s singles quarterfinals, PV Sindhu vs Ashmita Chaliha: Four match points for Sindhu and AShmita saves two with terrific aggression.
Women’s singles quarterfinals, HS Prannoy vs Lakshya Sen Meanwhile, Lakshya Sen forces the decider against HS Prannoy!
Women’s singles quarterfinals, PV Sindhu vs Ashmita Chaliha: Sindhu with the shot of the match! A stunning round-the-head crosscourt sliced winner. How did she do that. Terrific. Ashmita has hurt herself trying to retrieve that. 17-15.
Women’s singles quarterfinals, PV Sindhu vs Ashmita Chaliha: Poor lift from Sindhu and it is a massive jump smash from Ashmita, rose high and nailed it on Sindhu’s body. One-point game again... and now it is 15-15 as she finds the line again. And Sindhu with a mini-yell after beating Ashmita on the front court with a drop.
Sindhu put under pressure there by Ashmita... who is playing some lovely all-round badminton at the moment. Good jump smashes, but more importantly steady defence. But Sindhu has the lead in the interval. The top seed with a well constructed point despite desperate defending by Ashmita, Sindhu showing a confident body language to just give the impression that she is still in control.
On court 2, Lakshya set to force a decider.
Women’s singles quarterfinals, PV Sindhu vs Ashmita Chaliha: OH! Brilliant around the back return by Ashmita Chaliha and Sindhu misses the line after that. 9-9 in the second game. And Sindhu then makes another error with the court there for the taking. She plays a terrific drop after that and it is 10-10.
Women’s singles quarterfinals, PV Sindhu vs Ashmita Chaliha: Couple of rather tame errors from Sindhu and it is a 1-point game. Ashmita then sends a lift well long. First real “come on” we heard from the top seed there. Knows she is having to work hard here.
Women’s singles quarterfinals, PV Sindhu vs Ashmita Chaliha: Good start to the second game by Ashmita. This is what she is capable of. Moving Sindhu around the court, flatter exchanges, showing good aggression. Couple of terrific rallies here in the early stages of game 2. Good to see! Sindhu still has a 7-4 lead.
HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen were locked in a tight battle but the senior player reels of a run of straight points to clinch the opener.
Women’s singles quarterfinals, PV Sindhu vs Ashmita Chaliha: A brief good phase for Ashmita but errors creep in again while Sindhu goes all ballistic at the end! Cruises through in the opening game.
You can hear the roars from Prannoy on the adjacent court in what is a close start to the match. Looks like he is trying to assert his dominance early on. 13-13 in that one. Ashmita starting to rally better now against Sindhu.
Women’s singles quarterfinals, PV Sindhu vs Ashmita Chaliha: A flurry of errors from a nervy Ashmita early on. Big lead for the top seed at 8-2.
Women’s singles quarterfinals, HS Prannoy vs Lakshya Sen: All level at 8-8 here. Then 9-9, and 10–10! Living up to the billing.
A 46-minute match for this scoreline tells you it was anything but easy but Aakarshi Kashyap has produced an impressive win against Malvika Bansod, who cannot build on her win against Saina. Learning curve.
For updates on Lakshya vs Prannoy, arguably the match of the day, BAI live tweeting...
One match almost done, two huge matches on Court 1 and Court 2. All India at the moment on the three courts.
Ishaan Bhatnagar and Sai Pratheek lose in straight games. Malvika Bansod in big trouble against Aakarshi Kashyap. Coming up now, Sindhu vs Ashmita Chaliha on Court 1. HS Prannoy vs Lakshya Sen on 2. Unfortunate timing for Indian fans that these two are at the same time!
Women’s singles quarterfinals, Malvika Bansod vs Aakarshi Kashyap: Malvika Bansod has plenty of work to do here. Comfortably out-rallied in the opening game by Aakarshi Kashyap.
Sindhu match to follow this one.
Women’s singles quarterfinals, Malvika Bansod vs Aakarshi Kashyap: Aakarshi at the moment has answers for pretty much everything coming her way. Errors flowing from Malvika... 10 game points for the former.
Women’s singles quarterfinals, Malvika Bansod vs Aakarshi Kashyap: Malvika Bansod in a spot of bother here. Doesn’t seem to have played all that badly, but Aakarshi playing cleaner. 11-3 lead for the right-hander.
Women’s singles quarterfinals, Malvika Bansod vs Aakarshi Kashyap: Terrific rally... Aakarshi Kashyap takes a 5-2 lead against Malvika Bansod on the back of a good point. Now she has a handy 8-2 lead in this opening game.
Women’s singles second seed safely through.
Women’s singles quarterfinals, Malvika Bansod vs Aakarshi Kashyap: About to start on Court 3, no live coverage but we’ll keep you posted.
Read about Bansod’s win against Saina Nehwal here:
Couple of doubles defeats to start the day for India:
Hello and welcome to the live coverage of the India Open badminton. It is quarterfinals day at the Super 500 event and there are some cracking contests to look forward to.
Two-time Olympic medallist shuttler PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen and HS Prannoy advanced to the quarterfinals but the promising Malvika Bansod ended her idol Sania Nehwal’s campaign at the India Open in New Delhi on Thursday.
Sindhu will face promising young leftie Ashmita Chaliha and that will be on the TV Court. Prannoy and Lakshya take on each other in a mouthwatering clash, that is on Court 2.
Former champion and 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Saina suffered a 17-21 9-21 straight game loss to her 20-year-old compatriot Malvika.
Malvika, ranked 111th, took 34 minutes to see off the former world number 1.
The top seed Sindhu had no problem dispatching fellow India Ira Sharma 21-10 21-10. She will meet compatriot Ashmita Chaliha, who got the better of french shuttler Yaelle Hoyaux 21-17 21-14, in the quarterfinal on Thursday.
Malvika will next take on fellow Indian Aakarshi Kashyap in the quarterfinals. Aakarshi had defeated compatriot Keyura Mopatin 21-10 21-10 in another women’s singles second round match.
Sen also moved to the quarter-finals after defeating Felix Burestedt of Sweden 21-12, 21-15. He will take on compatriot HS Prannoy in the last eight. Prannoy received a walkover as his opponent Mithun Manjunath withdrew from the tournament after testing positive for COVID-19.
Report by PTI.
Screenshots courtesy Tournament Software / Sony LIV.