Badminton: Singapore's mixed doubles pair march on to S'pore Open quarter-finals

National shuttlers Danny Bawa Chrisnanta and Vanessa Neo earned a place in the quarter-finals of the OUE Singapore Open, after upsetting Thailand's Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thoungthongkam in the mixed doubles on Thursday.

The world No. 14 Singaporean pair, who have never beaten their world No. 7 opponents in four past meetings, finally emerged victorious, winning 21-12, 21-18.

They will play China's world No. 17 pair Liu Cheng and Bao Yixin on Friday.

Said Chrisnanta shortly after their victory at the Singapore Indoor Stadium: "We talked and discussed it with the coach before the match. I came in confident and just wanted to fight them with my power. We believed we could push them."

Neo added: "We slowed down the game towards the end to try to break their momentum."

The duo will be the only Singaporeans in action, after team-mates Derek Wong and women's doubles pair Shinta Mulia Sari and Yao Lei exited the tournament.

Wong lost 22-24, 19-21 to India's No. 45 B. Sai Praneeth.

Said the world No. 47 Singaporean, who was leading 10-4 in the second game: "I lost focus there, and my opponent was very steady and rarely made any mistakes.

"I wasn't ready for long rallies and too often gave him easy chances to kill the point."

He had upset world No. 17 Hans-Kristian Vittinghus of Denmark a day earlier to make the second round of the Singapore Open for the first time.

In the women's doubles, 2010 champions Yao Lei and Shinta Mulia Sari failed to keep their momentum going, going down meekly 9-21, 11-21 to South Koreans Yoo Hae Won and Ko A Ra. The pair had upset world No. 5s Kim So Young and Jang Ye Na a day earlier.

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