New Delhi:
Indian ace shuttlers Anand Pawar, Rasika Raje, Vrushali Gummadi and Rahul Yadav Chittanoina reached the quarterfinals of singles events at the Russian Open Grand Prix on Thursday.
Eighth seed Anand defeated Malaysia's Lim Chi Wing 10-12 11-6 11-7 12-10 to set up a clash with Vladimir Malkov, seeded second, while Rahul beat compatriot fourth seed Subhankar Dey11-13 11-4 11-6 11-7 in another match.
Rahul will face England's Yuehang Wang next. In women's singles, Vrushali beat local shuttler Anastasiia Sharapova 11-8 15-14 11-6 and will face third seeded Russian Natalia Perminova next. Sixth seed Rasika staved off a challenge from Japan's Minami Kawashima 13-11 11-7 15-14 to set up a meeting with another Japanese Natsuki Nidaira, fourth seed.
In men's doubles, fourth seeded Indian pair of Arjun MR and Ramchandran Shlok will face Japanese combo of Masato Takano and Yoshiki Tsukamoto after they disposed of Russian combo of Rodion Alimov and Pavel Kotsarenko 11-9 11-3 11-8 in the pre-quarters.
Saurabh Sharma and Anoushka Parikh also reached the quarters after getting over Russia's Aleksandr Vasilkin and Anastasia Redkina 11-9 11-5 11-7 in 20 minutes. They will meet Malaysian combo of Chan Peng Soon and Cheah Yee See.
