Hong Kong, Nov 17 : Ajay Jayaram and Gurusaidutt recorded upset victories against formidable opponents to storm into the men's singles quarterfinals of the Hong Kong Open badminton Thursday.
Saina Nehwal also made it to the quarterfinals of the women's singles, beating Jie Yao of the Netherlands 21-17, 21-17. Saina, seeded fourth, will next play seventh-seeded Tine Baun of Denmark.
Jayaram defeated Mayalsian Muhammad Hafiz Hashim 21-16, 21-15. The Indian, who shocked sixth seeded Sho Sasaki of Japan in the opening round, took 29 minutes to outclass the 2003 All England champion.
He has, however, run into top seed Malaysian Lee Chong Wei in the quarterfinals.
Gurusaidutt, who had to qualify for the tournament, defeated seventh seeded Pengyu Du of China 15-21, 21-7, 21-13 in a marathon battle.
He will next face second seeded Long Chen who beat another Indian Arvind Bhat 10-21, 8-21.
In the mixed doubles, V. Diju and Jwala Gutta lost their opening round match to Chinese Chen Xu and Jin Ma 18-21, 16-21.(IANS)
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