Olympic silver-medallist P V Sindhu and Ajay Jayaram advanced to the quarter-finals after registering thrilling three-game wins over their respective opponents in the second round of the China Super Series Premier, in Fuzhou, on Thursday.
Seventh seed Sindhu survived a scare from Beiwen Zhang of the US before notching up a 18-21, 22-20, 21-17 victory in the singles match which lasted an hour. The Indian will next take on China's He Bingjiao, against whom she had lost in the second round of the French Open last month.
Jayaram too had to work hard to surpass Wei Nan as he notched up a 20-22, 21-19, 21-12 win over the Hong Kong shuttler in a 56-minute clash.
Three-time Dutch Open champion Jayaram has a tough match next up as he faces reigning Olympic champion Chen Long of China, who is also a two-time World champion and All England champion, in the next round.
However, it was curtains for Swiss Open winner H S Prannoy after he suffered a 17-21, 19-21 loss to Qiao Bin of China in another men's singles match. B Sai Praneeth had lost his opening round match 16-21, 9-21 against Marc Zwiebler of Germany on Wednesday.
Sindhu blew away a 11-7 lead at the break to allow Zhang comeback and level the scores at 13-13. The American soon moved to a 15-13 and 18-15 lead before reeling off the last three points in to pocket the first game.
In the second game, Sindhu once again zoomed to a 8-0 lead but once again she squandered the advantage as Zhang clawed back to first level the scores at 16-16. She soon lead 19-17 but the Indian ensured there was no hiccup this time as she roared back into the contest.
In the decider, Sindhu held a slender 8-6 lead and then broke off at 9-9 to never look back.
It was a tough battle for supremacy as Jayaram's gallant fight in the opening game ended with a narrow loss after he and Wei moved neck and neck from 11-11 to 20-20.
In the second game, Jayaram erased a 2-6 deficit to drew parity at 9-9. He moved ahead at 14-11 and despite a challenge from Wei, managed to bounce back into the contest after five straight points.
In the decider, Jayaram managed to keep himself at a distance from Wei after opening up a small 7-3 lead. He kept increasing the lead and eventually sealed the issue comfortably.
