Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and world championship bronze medallist Lakshya Sen registered contrasting wins to advance to the women's and men's singles semifinals, respectively, at the Yonex-Sunrise India Open badminton here on Friday.
Top seed Sindhu, a former world champion, got the better of compatriot Ashmita Chaliha 21-7 21-18 in 36 minutes, while Sen rallied his way to a hard-fought 14-21 21-9 21-14 victory over HS Prannoy in another all-Indian quarterfinal.
Sindhu set up a women's singles last-four clash with Thailand's sixth seed, Supanida Katethong, who entered the semifinals after the third seeded Yeo Jia Min of Singapore pulled out of the tournament due to "high fever".
Sen, seeded third, will square off against either Malaysia's Ng Tze Yong or Ireland's Nhat Nguyen in the semifinals.
In the other women's semifinal, Aakarshi Kashyap will face second seeded Busanan Ongbamrungphan of Thailand, after the Indian notched up a 21-12 21-15 win over compatriot Malvika Bansod on Friday. Busanan trounced USA's Lauren Lam 21-12 21-8 in another last-eight clash.
Second seeded men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also entered the semifinals with a 21-18 21-18 win over Singapore's Hee Yong Kai Terry and Loh Kean Hean.
Haritha Manazhiyil Harinarayan and Ashna Roy also made it to the last four in women's doubles after beating Rudrani Jaiswal and Jamaludeen Anees Kowsar 21-16 21-16 in the quarterfinals.
The men's doubles pair of Ishaan Bhatnagar and Sai Pratheek K cut a sorry figure against Malaysian third seeds Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi, losing 7-21 7-21 in just 19 minutes.
In the mixed doubles, the Indian pairing of Venkat Gaurav Prasad and Juhi Dewangan, seeded 8th, were no match for Malaysian combination of Chen Tang Jie and Peck Yen Wei, going down 10-21 13-21 in just 23 minutes.
Another Indian pair of Nithin HV and Ashwini Bhat K lost 15-21 19-21 to Singapore's Hee Yong Kai Terry and Tan Wei Han to bow out of the USD 400,000 event.