Chetan survives Chung scare, Saina in last four

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Top seed Chetan Anand survived another scare but held on to put it past Tan Chung Seang of Malaysia 21-15, 19-21, 21-16 in the quarterfinal of the Yonex-Sunrise Indian Open Grand Prix Gold badminton championship at the Nehru Indoor Stadium on Friday.

Chetan’s country-mate and women’s top seed — Saina Nehwal continued her sparkling form with an easy 21-4, 21-8 victory over sixth seed Sayali Gokhale to reach the last four.
Earlier, India’s Aravind Bhat (seeded 4) lost to Alamsyah Yunus of Indonesia in straight games, 21-19, 21-19.
Mohd. Hashim Hafiz, the men’s No. 2 seed, also made an exit after conceding his match to R.M.V. Guru Sai Dutt owing to a knee injury.
Chetan was in dominant against his Malaysian opponent. The world No. 19 used his trump weapon –smash - to good effect. The timing of his jumps were spot-on. Chung found it hard to manoeuver Chetan’s close-range smashes and was found wanting on many occasions. Chetan closed the opening game 21-15.
Chung showed a lot more character in the second game and wrapped it up 21-16.
Chetan took the final break in the decider at 11-6. Playing at the net, Chetan seized every opportunity to finish of the match with ado. Chung’s judgment on the baseline was not to the mark. Leading 17-8, Chetan was in a spot of bother as Chung pocketed the next seven points.
But the seasoned campaigner kept his cool to force a match-point with a top-notch half-swing smash.
In the women’s quarters, Sayali never really tested Saina. The top seed played a near flawless game to seal the issue in style.