Mumbai: Top seed H.S Prannoy and fourth seed R.M.V Gurusaidutt entered the men’s singles final of the Tata Open India International Challenge badminton tournament with straight-game semi-final victories here on Saturday.
Prannoy subdued sixth seed Ajay Jayaram 21-13 23-21 in 36 minutes after staving off the fightback from the latter, who had packed off third seed B Sai Praneesh in the quarter finals, at the Cricket Club of India.
Later Gurusaidutt overwhelmed unseeded Akshit Mahajan, conqueror of second seed Sourabh Varma in the quarters, 21-11 21-11 in the other semi-final. The final is to be held tomorrow.
In women’s singles, unseeded Ruthvika Shivani Gadde toppled third seed Salil Rane in straight games to enter the final.
The 17-year-old Ruthvika, an up and coming trainee at the Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad and runner-up at the last junior nationals, disposed off her rival 21-19 21-18 in 35 minutes.
Arundhati, who also trains at the academy of India’s national badminton coach and is on a comeback trail after a four-month injury-forced lay-off, got the better of top seed P C Thulasi 21-9 21-15 in the other semi-final.
Other results (semi-finals): Women’s doubles: J Meghana/K Maneesha beat 2-Dhanya Nair/Mohita Sachdev 21-15 21-15; Aparna Balan/Prajakta Sawant beat Shruti Mundada/Riya Pillai 21-12 21-12.
Men’s doubles: Shlok Ramachandran/Sanyam Shukla beat K Nandagopal/Arjun Kumar Reddy 21-11 21-17.
Mixed doubles: 3-Manu Attri/N Sikki Reddy beat Shlok Ramachandran/J Meghana 21-18 21-13.
