Indian qualifier S. Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian shocked World No. 2 Anders Antonsen of Denmark to reach the quarterfinals of the Swiss Open, a BWF World Tour Super 300 tournament, in Basel on Friday.
Muthusamy, ranked 64th in the world, defeated second seed Antonsen 18-21, 21-12, 21-5 to secure the biggest win of his career in an hour and six minutes.
Muthusamy, silver medallist at World Junior Championships 2022, had beaten Magnus Johannesen, another Dane, 21-5, 21-16 in the first round. He will next face Frenchman Christo Popov, World No. 31, on Friday for a place in the semifinals. Popov clinched titles at the German Open and Hylo Open last season. He was the runner-up at this year’s German Open.
READ | Treesa-Gayatri pair enters Swiss Open quarterfinal; Srikanth, Rajawat ousted
Earlier in the day, women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand entered the quarterfinals with a straight-games victory over Germany’s Amelie Lehmann and Selin Hubsch. The Indian pair won fairly easily with the scoreline reading 21-12, 21-8.
Treesa and Gayatri will be up against Hong Kong, China’s Yeung Nga Ting and Yeung Pui Lam in the quarterfinals.
Toma Popov beat Priyanshu Rajawat 21-15, 21-17 in 47 minutes while Kidambi Srikanth went down 21-15, 21-11 to World No. 6 Li Shi Feng of China.
Among other Indians, Isharani Baruah put up a valiant fight but lost 21-19, 18-21, 21-18 to China’s Han Qian Xi in 63 minutes.
Anupama Upadhyaya was ousted by Indonesia’s world no. 11 Putri Kusuma Wardani as she lost 21-17, 21-19 in another women’s singles match.
The mixed doubles pair of Sathish Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath had a tough outing, going down 21-14, 21-16 to Liu Kuang Heng and Jheng Yu Chieh.
(With inputs from PTI)