Malaysia Open: Sindhu, Satwik-Chirag march into quarterfinals

New Delhi [India], January 8 (ANI): India's two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu and the men's doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty advanced to the quarterfinals of the ongoing Malaysia Open on Thursday.
Competing in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Super 1000 event, the former world champion outplayed eighth seed Tomoka Miyazaki of Japan to book her place in the final eight.
The two-time Olympian, currently ranked 18th in the BWF women's singles rankings, defeated world No. 33 Sung Shuo-yun of Chinese Taipei 21-13, 22-20 to move into the second round of the tournament in her first round match.
Sindhu dominated the opening game 21-8 and maintained the momentum to seal the match 21-13 in the second game. Sindhu will next face the winner of the clash between China's Gao Fang Jie and third seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the quarterfinals.
In men's doubles, third seeds Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy also advanced after securing a 21-18, 21-11 win over Malaysia's Junaidi Arif and Roy King Yap in 39 minutes. With the victory, the Indians extended their head-to-head record against the Malaysian pair to 4-0.
They will next face the winners of the clash between Chinese Taipei's Chen Zhi Ray/Lin Yu Chieh and sixth seeds Fajar Alfian/Fikri Muhammad of Indonesia.
Chirag and Satwiksairaj had moved to the second round, beating Chinese Taipei's Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan 21-13, 21-15 in a match that lasted just 35 minutes. (ANI)