Saina, Chetan in semifinals

Top seeds Saina Nehwal and Chetan Anand advanced to the semifinals of the Syed Modi International Grand Prix badminton tournament here today.

Lucknow: Top seeds Saina Nehwal and Chetan Anand advanced to the semifinals while RMV Gurudsaidutt

shocked higher ranked Indonesian Andre Kurniawan Tedjono in straight games to reach the final four in the Syed Modi International Grand Prix badminton tournament here today. World number eight Saina survived a scare to pip fifth seed Fransiska Ratnasari of Indonesia 11-21, 21-4, 21-19 in a 54-minute battle and set up a semifinal clash with sixth seed Jeanine Cicognini of Switzerland, while Chetan beat sixth seed compatriot Anup Sridhar 21-18 21-10 in just 29 minutes. In a see-saw battle, Gurusaidutt held his nerve in crucial moments to beat Andre 21-18, 21-16 in a 42 minutes to reach the semifinals, where he will meet Chetan tomorrow. Fourth seed Aditi Mutatkar also made merry notching up a 21-12, 21-14 win over compatriot seventh seed Trupti Murgunde in 24 minutes in the women`s singles. However, it was end of road for Parupalli Kashyap, Sai Praneet B, PV Sindhu and Sikki Reddy. While fourth seed Kashyap went down fighting to fifth seed Indonesian Dyonisius Hayom Rumbaka 24-22, 19-21, 21-12 in a 57-minute battle, Sai put up a spirited fight before losing to Malaysian Kwong Beng Chan 13-21 20-22 in men`s singles. Promising shuttler Sindhu took a game away from her fancied rival second seed Maria Febe Kusumastuti of Indonesia before going down 21-15, 4-21, 11-21, while Sikki lost 20-22 18-21 to sixth seed Swiss Jeanine Cicognini. PTI