Top junior shuttlers Guru Sai Dutt and Sikky Reddy ousted seeded rivals to enter the men's and women's singles quarter finals of the 1st Tata Open Prize Money All India Badminton tournament on Tuesday.
Junior national boys' champion Sai Dutt of AP showed very impressive all-court form to upset seventh-seeded rival Jishnu Sanyal of Air India in three hard-fought games after a 70-minute battle in the men's pre-quarters.
Sai Dutt controlled the mid-court superbly and saved match points when trailing 18-20 in the decider before moving past his more fancied rival Sanyal with a 19-21, 21-11, 24-22 verdict at the Bombay Gymkhana.
Sai Dutt, a protege of former All England champion P Gopichand, squandered a handy 18-16 lead in the opening game before coming back strongly to end his left-handed rival's aspirations, clinching the match with a power-packed smash from mid-court that brooked no stopping.
Dutt, thus, set up a quarter final clash on Wednesday against top seed Arvind Bhat of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board. The Bangalore-based Bhat subdued a fighting Vinay Kumar Reddy (AP) 21-16, 21-15 in another pre-quarter final tie.
Earlier, Sikky Reddy (AP) - among the country's top three junior girls - ended the dreams of second seed Aparna Balan, defeating her Petroleum Sports Promotion Board opponent 25-23, 21-11 in half an hour.
She lined herself up against seasoned B R Meenakshi, also of PSPB, who got the better of G M Nischitha (Karnataka) 21-7, 21-5 in another pre quarter final match.