It was a good day for India at the Indonesia Open Super 1000 as Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty knocked out top seeds and home favourites Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto while HS Prannoy got his first win over Kodai Naraoka to reach the semifinals on Friday.
However, Kidambi Srikanth bowed out in the quarterfinals a three-game battle against China's Li Shi Feng.
Seventh seeds Satwik and Chirag played a near flawless match to beat Alfian and Adrianto 21-13, 21-13 in 41 minutes. It was a morale-boosting win after early exits in their last two tournaments.
The Indians were sharp on attack and defence, both in the shorter points and longer rallies. In both games, the pairs were closely matched in the beginning before Satwik and Chirag pulled ahead and built a big lead after the interval.
The Indonesians, cheered by the large home crowd as Isatora, kept trying to catch up but the Indians didn't let their level drop at all. Even when Satwik had two service faults in the first game, they kept their composure and continued to attack with their big smashes. It was a performance that reminded why the Asian champions are such a highly rated pair, ranked fourth in the world.
Satwik and Chirag will play the winner of the quarterfinal between Koreans Min Hyuk Kang and Seung Jae Seo and Indonesia's Leo Rolly Carnando and Daniel Marthin. Given their experience, this would be a good opportunity for them for a big result at a Super 1000.
In men's singles, Prannoy also earned an impressive win over Kodai Naraoka of Japan. The Indian, who has been seeded seventh after his consistent season which includes the Malaysia Masters title, had never beaten the Japanese third seed (4-0 H2H) and had lost to him in a marathon opening round just last week.
However, at his old, happy hunting ground, Prannoy played a clean, hard-hitting game to overcome him in straight games 21-18 21-6. Naraoka had spent much longer on court than Prannoy this week and the freshness showed as he kept wrong-footing the Japanese. He found the angled winners and smashes when needed to reach his third semifinal at the Indonesia Open.
Next up for the India No 1 will be world No 1 Viktor Axelsen, who is making a comeback after missing a month's action with injury. The Dane has a 5-2 record against Prannoy but the Indian has won the last two times they met.
The first Indian to take the court, Srikanth lost 14-21, 21-14, 12-21 in one hour and nine minutes to world No 10 Feng. It was a close contest, especially with the way Srikanth - who beat Lakshya Sen in a commanding display - made a comeback in the second game. But a number of errors in the decider undid the good work he put in.
The Indonesia Open, the third Super 1000 tournament this year, is the penultimate -- and biggest -- in the five straight weeks of top-flight BWF World Tour action in Asia since the start of Olympic qualification cycle in May.