Shuttler Sai Praneeth eyes semi-final berth at Thailand Open

Ace Indian shuttler B. Sai Praneeth will look to cement his spot in the semi-finals of the ongoing Thailand Open BWF Super-500 Tournament when he squares off with seventh-seed Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan in the last-eight clash in Bangkok on Friday. 

The 26-year-old from Hyderabad continued his rich vein of form as he eased past Indian compatriot Shubhankar Dey 21-18, 21-19 in the second round of the men's singles event of the tournament that lasted 42 minutes at Indoor Stadium Huamark. 

Last week, Praneeth had made it to the semi-finals of the Japan Open, only to see himself going down against top-seeded Kento Momota of Japan 18-21, 12-21. 

In the men's doubles clash, the Indian duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will also look for a semi-final berth when they lock horns with the Korean team of Choi Solgyu and Seo Seung Jae in the round-of-eight. 

Rankireddy and Shetty had earlier registered a comfortable 21-17, 21-19 triumph over the Indonesian pair of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto in the second round. 

Following the men's doubles clash, Rankireddy will join Ashwini Ponappa to take on Japan's Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino in the quarter-final clash of the mixed doubles event. 

On Thursday, seventh-seeded Saina Nehwal-- who was playing her first tournament in nearly two months--squandered a game advantage to slump to a 21-16, 11-21, 14-21 defeat at the hands of unseeded Japanese shuttler Sayaka Takahashi in the second round of the women's singles event.

With Saina's defeat, Indian's campaign in women’s singles also came to an end.