Rounak Chouhan
Indian teenager Rounak Chouhan continued his fairy tale run at the US Open badminton championships, storming into the men’s singles semi-finals while his teammate Devika Sihag stunned third seeded Riko Gunji to make the women’s singles semi-finals.
Rounak, who came into the quarters with a big win over top seed Chou Tien Chen, beat Israel’s Misha Zilberman 23-21, 21-11, to set up a clash against eighth-seed Su Li Yang.
The Taiwanese shuttler stunned third seeded Brian Yang of Canada 21-19, 21-8 in his quarter-final tie.
The 18-year-old Rounak will be joined fellow Indian veteran Kidambi Srikanth in the semi-finals.
The 33-year-old Kidambi, made his first semi-final of the season, defeating Taiwanese Liao Jhuo-Fu 21-9, 12-21, 21-8 inhis quarter-final match.
Fifth seeded Kidambi will take on Japan’s Yudai Okimoto in the semi-finals. Okimoto, seeded one run below, defeated compatriot Shogo Ogawa 21-14, 22-20 in his quarter-final tie.
Devika booked her place in the women’s singles semi-finals with a hard earned 22-20, 21-19 win over Gunji, It was the21-year-olds first win over the Japanese shuttler in two meetings, setting up a semi-final clash against Dane Line Christophersen.
Christophersen had a difficult time against India’s 17-year-old Tanvi Sharma before prevailing 21-16, 11-21, 21-11 in her quarter-final tie.
Also picking up an upset win was Bulgarian Kaloyana Nalbantova, who handed eighth seeded Sung Shuo Yun 21-15, 21-11 in her quarer-finals.
Nalbantova will play Canadian Rachel Chan for a place in the finals. Rachel took just an hour to prevail over another Indian teenager Rakshitha Sree Santhosh Ramraj 15-21, 21-16, 21-12 in her quarter-final tie.
In the women’s doubles, top seeded Hsu Yin-hui-Lin Jhih Yun of Taiper crashed out at the hands of Japan’s Sumire Nakade-Miyu Takahashi.
The unseeded Japanese duo took 44-minutes to beat the favourites 22-10, 21-19.
The hosts hopes were also dashed after third seeded Lauren Lam-Alisson Quynh Lee were beaten 19-21, 21-18, 15-21 by eight seeded Lin Chih-Chun-Yang Chu Yun of Chinese Taipei.
QUARTER-FINAL RESULTS
Men’s singles: Kidambi Srikanth (Ind) bt Liao Jhuo-Fu (Tpe) 21-9, 12-21, 21-8; Rounak Chouhan (Ind) bt Misha Zilberman (Isr) 23-21, 21-11; Su Li Yang (Tpe) bt Brian Yang (Can) 21-19, 21-8; Yudai Okimoto (Jpn) bt Shogo Ogawa (Jpn) 21-14, 22-20
Men’s doubles: Christian Faust Kjaer-Rasmus Kjaer (Den) bt Lai Po Yu-Tsai Fu Cheng (Tpe) 21-19, 21-15; Ben Lane-Sean Vendy (Eng) bt Keiichiro Matsui-Kenya Mitsuhashi (Jpn) 16-21, 21-16, 21-15; Hiroki Okamura-Kyohei Yamashita (Jpn) bt Haruki Kawabe-Kenta Matsukawa (Jpn) 21-11, 21-18; Chen Zhi Ray-Lin Yu Chieh (Tpe) bt Takuto Goto-Tsubasa Yoshida (Jpn) 21-15, 21-17
Women’s singles: Devika Sihag (Ind) bt Riko Gunji (Jpn) 22-20, 21-19; Rachel Chan (Can) bt Rakshitha Sree Santhosh Ramraj (Ind) 15-21, 21-16, 21-12; Line Christophersen (Den) bt Tanvi Sharma (Ind) 21-16, 11-21, 21-11; Kalayona Nalbantova (Bul) bt Sung Shuo Yun (Tpe) 21-15, 21-11
Women’s doubles: Lauren Lam-Allison Quynh Lee (USA) bt Lin Chih-Chun-Yang Chu Yun (Tpe) 22-20, 21-19; Kaho Osawa-Mai Tanabe (Jpn) bt Polina Buhrova-Yevheniia Kantemyr (Ukr) 21-19, 18-21, 21-15; Sumire Nakade-Miyu Takahashi (Jpn) bt Hsu Yin-Hui-Lin Jhih Yun (Tpe) 22-20, 21-19; Hinata Suzuki-Nao Yamakita (Jpn) bt Sayaka Hirota-Ayako Sakuramoto (Jpn) 21-18, 3-2 rtd
Mixed doubles: Presley Smith-Jennie Gai (USA) bt Timothy Lock-Chloe Hoang (Can) 21-13, 21-12; Callum Hemming-Estelle van Leeuwen (Eng) bt Teges Satriaji Cahyo Hutomo-Chloe Ho (Ina-USA) 21-15, 21-14; Liu Kuang Heng-Hsu Yin-Hui (Tpe) bt Kristoffer Kolding-Mette Werge (Den) 10-21, 21-19, 21-10; Wu Hsuan-Yi-Yang Chu Yun (Tpe) bt Lin Bing-Wei-Lin Jhih Yun (Tpe) 21-13, 21-15
