Satwiksairaj-Ashwini enter mixed doubles’ quarters

 The Indian pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa on Thursday secured their berth into the quarter-finals of the mixed doubles event at the Toyota Thailand Open after getting past Germany’s Mark Lamsfuss and Isabel Herttrich in their second round contest.

Satwiksairaj and Ashwini defeated their German opponents 22-20, 14-21, 21-16 in a match that lasted for 56 minutes.

In the first game, the Indians banked on their powerful strokes from the backcourt and eventually went on to seal it with a scoreline of 22-20.

The second game, however, turned out to be a complete contrast as the world number 17 Germans were all over the Indian pair and won it 21-14.

In the decider, Mark and Isabel took a mid-interval lead but Satwiksairaj and Ashwini regrouped well to register a 21-16 win and keep their campaign alive in the tournament.

Before Thursday’s match, the two pairs had faced each other just once where the Indians emerged victorious at the 2018 Badminton World Championships.

Satwiksairaj and Ashwini will now face Malaysia’s Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying for a place in the semis.

Earlier in the day, Sameer Verma also eased past Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke in straight games to enter the quarterfinals of the men’s singles event.

Verma defeated Gemke 21-12, 21-9 in the second-round contest of the Super 1000 tournament that lasted for almost 40 minutes.