H S Prannoy's second successive win over three-time Olympic silver medallist lee Chong Wei was the highlight on a day when Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth also made the quarterfinals of Denmark Open Super Series Premier here.
Just four months back, Prannoy had created a flutter when he dispatched Chong Wei in straight games in the Indonesia Super Series Premier and the unseeded Indian dished out another superb performance on Thursday to oust the former World No 1 Malaysian 21-17, 11-21, 21-19 in a match that lasted an hour and three minutes here.
"I am happy to beat him again today. Even at this age, he is one of the best players, who can play in any conditions," Prannoy said after the match.
World No 8 Srikanth, who already has two super series titles at Indonesia and Australia to his name, defeated Korea's Jeon Hyeok Jin 21-13, 8-21, 21-18, while Saina, who won a bronze at the Glasgow World Championship, prevailed over Thailand's Nitchaon Jindapol 22-20, 21-13 in women's singles pre-quarterfinals.
US Open champion Prannoy will next face Korea's top seed Son Wan Ho, Srikanth will meet current world champion Viktor Axelsen, while Saina will square off against Japan's Akane Yamaguchi.
Also through to the quarters were England's Rajiv Ouseph, Hong Kong's Wong Wing Ki Vincent, Korea's lee Hyun Il, Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen.
In women's singles, top seed and World No 1 Tai Tzu Ying, Korean duo of Sung Ji Hyun and Kim Hyo Min, Japan's Sayaka Sato, China's Chen Yufei and Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon also reached the last eight.
Sindhu crashes out
Olympic and World Championship silver medallist shuttler PV Sindhu suffered a shock straight game defeat against Chen Yufei of China in the opening round to crash out of the Denmark Open here.
Sindhu failed to break the rhythm of world number 10 Chen to go down fighting 17-21 21-23 in a 43-minute women's singles match on Wednesday night.
Sindhu conceded a 0-3 lead to Chen early on but managed to erase the deficit when she drew parity at 9-9 and moved together till 17-17. It was at this moment when Chen stepped up and grabbed four crucial points to win the first game. After the interval, Chen extended the lead to 15-11. Sindhu managed to reduce it to 16-17. Sindhu then saved four match points to make it 20-20 but eventually Chen closed out the match at 23-21 to avenge her World Championship loss to the Indian.