Ningbo (China), April 9 Young Indian shuttler Ayush Shetty advanced to the men's singles quarterfinals of the Badminton Asia Championships with a dominant straight-game victory, but veteran PV Sindhu was eliminated from the women's event here on Thursday.
World number 25 Ayush, who is also the reigning US Open Super 300 champion, defeated his world number 20 rival, Chi Yu Jen of Chinese Taipei, 21-16, 21-12, in a commanding display. He will next face third seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia.
However, the day was disappointing for the rest of the Indian contingent.
Two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu lost 18-21, 8-21 to second seed Wang Zhiyi of China in the last-16 stage match.
HS Prannoy, returning after a shoulder injury, fought hard but lost 12-21, 19-21 to Weng Hong Yang of China.
In mixed doubles, Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto lost 13-21, 14-21 to fourth-seeded Malaysians Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei.
Unnati Hooda lost to World No. 9 Tomoka Miyazaki of Japan 17-21, 9-21 in the women's singles, while the women's doubles pair of Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra lost 10-21, 13-21 to the Japanese pair of Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto.
Ayush relied on his height to unleash powerful smashes and maintained tight control at the net to dominate the match.
The first game was closely contested early on, with the scores level at 4-4 before Chi took the lead 10-6.
Ayush clawed his way back after the break, drawing level at 12-12 and then taking control as Chi struggled with his length, committing a series of unforced errors.
Ayush surged to 18-14 and closed out the game comfortably.
In the second game, Ayush raced to a 4-0 lead before Chi briefly caught up.
Regaining his rhythm, Ayush led 11-7 at the interval and never looked back, using aggressive returns and sharp net play to move to 16-9.
He soon wrapped up the match, sealing it with a sharp backhand at the net.