Tanisha Crasto reached the semi-finals of both the women’s doubles (with Ashwini Ponnappa) and mixed doubles (with Dhruv Kapila) at the 2023 Odisha Masters Super 100 on Friday.
Kiran George in men’s singles and Unnati Hooda in women’s singles also advanced to the last four of their respective events.
In the first match of the day, Crasto and Kapila were up against Indonesia’s Marwan Farza-Jessica Maya Rismawardani in the quarter-finals.
The pair from Indonesia started aggressively and took a lead but Crasto and Kapila fought back valiantly and brought the game to 6-6. At the interval, the Indian pair lead 11-10 and closed down the first game 21-16.
In the second game, the Indian pair continued their momentum and led their opponents by 11-4 at the interval. They won the match 21-16, 21-11 and advanced to the semi-finals round.
George’s win in the quarter-finals came against Meiraba Luwang Maisnam in straight games while Hooda recovered from a first game loss to beat Anupama Upadhyaya 16-21, 21-7, 21-15.
In her second match of the day, Crasto teamed up with Ponnappa and were up against Sung Shuo Yun and Yu Chien Hui of Chinese Taipei. The Indian duo took the first game 22-20 with Crasto bringing out variations in her shots during long rallies and Ponnappa showcasing her experience.
In the second game, Crasto-Ponnappa began strongly to take a 11-7 lead at the interval. The Indian duo were aggressive in their approach as both teams were involved in long rallies. But a valiant fightback by the Chinese Taipei pair saw them winning the game 22-20 to take the match into the decider.
In the decider, the Indian duo began in a similar fashion with a 11-5 lead at the interval. Crasto and Ponnappa dominated the court with their superb shots and extended their lead to 17-9. They then closed the game with a 21-14 win to secure their place in a third consecutive semi-final round.
Meanwhile, Sumeeth Reddy and Sikki Reddy went down to Denmark’s Mads Vestergaard and Christine Busch 20-22, 21-16, 21-18. In men’s singles, Ayush Shetty won his match against Subhankar Dey 21-16, 21-14 while Chirag Sen was ousted by Satish Kumar Karunakaran with a score of 21-10, 21-16.
Also in women’s singles, former World No. 1 Nozomi Okuhara progressed to the semi-finals with an easy 21-5, 21-13 win over Ruzana.
In the women’s doubles category, Rutuparna Panda-Swetaparna Panda went down Jesita Putri Miantoro-Febi Setianingrum 21-9, 21-15.
