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Yes, this time with local support Okuhara's challenge will be tougher.

Prannoy entered into the quarters with straight games win over Jen Hao Hsu ... Next, he is facing 2nd seed Yuqi Shi, who defeated Sameer Verma in three games ... In that match, Sameer started well and won the first game comfortably but Yuqi recovered and fought back to win next two games.

Dominating win by Srikanth against Yun Hu losing only 23 points.

Satwik with Ashwin missed huge opportunity of scoring upset win over WR #5 Indonesian pair ... In the first game they had 4 game points at 20-16, which they failed to convert ... They missed total 7 game points before losing the game ... Our pair won the second game with an ease but failed to challenge experienced Indonesian game in the deider.

At $325K YONEX Japan Open 2017, Tokyo, Japan (Superseries)

[R2] (8) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,8) bt Yun Hu (HKG,28) 21-12 21-11
[R2] Prannoy H.S. (IND,18) bt Jen Hao Hsu (TPE,27) 21-16 23-21
[R2] Sameer Verma (IND,25) l (2) Yuqi Shi (CHN,4) 21-10 17-21 15-21

[R2] (Q) Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (IND)/ Ashwini Ponnappa (IND) l (4) Praveen Jordan (INA)/ Debby Susanto (INA) 27-29 21-16 12-21

In the quarters, Srikanth is facing WR #2 Danish player, Viktor Axelsen and Prannoy is facing Yuqi Shi.

[QF] (8) Kidambi Srikanth (IND,8) vs (3) Viktor Axelsen (DEN,2)
[QF] Prannoy H.S. (IND,18) vs (2) Yuqi Shi (CHN,4)

Good to see Pranaav and Sikki taking advantage of the weaker draw for entering into the quarters of Superseries tournament ... They scored straight games win over lower ranked local pair.

[R2] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (ND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) bt Yuki Kaneko (JPN)/ Koharu Yonemoto (JPN) 21-13 21-17

[QF] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (ND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) vs Seung Jae Seo (KOR)/ Ha Na Kim (KOR)

In Womens singles, our challenge end as both Sindhu and Saina lost in straight games.

[R2] (4) Pusarla V. Sindhu (IND,4) l. Nozomi Okuhara (JPN,9) 18-21 8-21

[R2] Saina Nehwal (IND,12) l. (5) Carolina Marin (ESP,5) 16-21 13-21

So, our challenge is now left in mens singles and mixed doubles. Both Srikanth and Prannoy face very tough matches in the QF.

After longtime our women singles challenge got over in the second round when Sindhu and Saina were plying ... I expected a tough match for Sindhu but she folded easily in the second game against Nozomi Okuhara ... Saina is still long from her top performance as she failed to challenge Carolina Marin in her loss.

I started watching Sindhu's match towards the end of the 1st game and could only continue to watch in bits and pieces. Sindhu was 12-15 down when I started to watch. She won the next 4 points to go 16-15, but didn't take advantage of that momentum shift and eventually lost it 18-21. She was playing and competing well in the second game but pretty much every point lost was on an erratic shot. Okuhara didn't do anything special to win the second game 21-8, she only had to wait for Sindhu to make a mistake on most points. Pretty disappointing!

- Varma

Sindhu was leading 18 -16, but after that she lost almost every point on an erratic shot. But we don't need to worry about Sindhu at all because she is a true champion & knows how to win. She will come back even stronger but the real worry is Saina who could not solve the Carolina Marin puzzle in her entire life.

prasen9 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 20, 2017 12:20 pm Badminton has an asinine seeding policy. At least the top 16 should be seeded.

Yes. I recall seeds no 8 playing 9 in R1 thanks to this stupid scheme.

Saniapower wrote: ↑Thu Sep 21, 2017 7:26 pm Saina who could not solve the Carolina Marin puzzle in her entire life.

Saina has a winning record against Carolina lifetime.

She could not solve the Jiang Yanjiao problem all her life. Or the Xie Xingfang problem. Or the Maria Yulianti problem.

Saniapower wrote: ↑Thu Sep 21, 2017 7:26 pm Sindhu was leading 18 -16, but after that she lost almost every point on an erratic shot. But we don't need to worry about Sindhu at all because she is a true champion & knows how to win. She will come back even stronger but the real worry is Saina who could not solve the Carolina Marin puzzle in her entire life.

huh?

Saina's issue in her prime were the 2 Chinese players.

Prannoy failed to challenge Yuqi Shi and lost in the straight games.

At $325K YONEX Japan Open 2017, Tokyo, Japan (Superseries)

[QF] Prannoy H.S. (IND,18) l (2) Yuqi Shi (CHN,4) 15-21 14-21

Pranaav and Sikki continued with taking advantage of their draw and r in the semis with three games win over their Korean opponents ... Next, they r facing local pair, it will be interesting to find out when last time our MXD team reached the semis of Superseries tournament ... May be Diju and Jwala?

At $325K YONEX Japan Open 2017, Tokyo, Japan (Superseries)

[QF] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (ND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) bt Seung Jae Seo (KOR)/ Ha Na Kim (KOR) 21-18 9-21 21-19

[SF] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (ND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) vs (Q) Takuro Hoki (JPN)/ Sayaka Hirota (JPN)

jaydeep wrote: ↑Fri Sep 22, 2017 6:10 am Pranaav and Sikki continued with taking advantage of their draw and r in the semis with three games win .Next, they r facing local pair, it will be interesting to find out when last time our MXD team reached the semis of Superseries tournament ... May be Diju and Jwala?

Yes, Diju and Jwala in 2011 China Super Series.

Excellent performance by Pranav and Sikki. Great resilence shown by Sikki Reddy after 4 narrow losses against to 10 ranked players in mens and mixed doubles in last 1 month.

jaydeep wrote: ↑Fri Sep 22, 2017 6:10 am Pranaav and Sikki continued with taking advantage of their draw and r in the semis with three games win over their Korean opponents ... Next, they r facing local pair, it will be interesting to find out when last time our MXD team reached the semis of Superseries tournament ... May be Diju and Jwala?

At $325K YONEX Japan Open 2017, Tokyo, Japan (Superseries)

[QF] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (ND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) bt Seung Jae Seo (KOR)/ Ha Na Kim (KOR) 21-18 9-21 21-19

[SF] Pranaav Jerry Chopra (ND)/ N. Sikki Reddy (IND) vs Takuro Hoki (JPN)/ Sayaka Hirota (JPN)

The competition in mixed doubles is slightly depleted with the 2nd, 5th and 6th seeds withdrawing. The pair they are facing in the semis are qualifiers. It is a great chance to reach the finals. If I am not mistaken the last semi final appearance at a Super Series event was Jwala and Diju at the Chinese Masters on 2011. Of course the had reached the Super Series Finals Final in 2009.