Arvind Bhat, Sourabh Verma in NZ Open pre-quarters

German Open winner Arvind Bhat and Malaysia Open finalist Sourabh Varma advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of New Zealand Open with straight-game victories in the men’s singles competition of the USD 50,000 Grand Prix event in Auckland. The world number 65 Arvind staved off the challenge from Hsu Jui Ting, ranked 164, by notching up a 21-17 25-23 win in a match that lasted for 37 minutes. The Bangalore shuttler will square off with Malaysia’s Tang Jie Chen next. [caption id=“attachment_1483447” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Sourabh Verma. Facebook[/caption] Sourabh, who had recently clinched three titles – TATA Open, Austrian International Challenge and Iran Fajr International Challenge, thrashed New Zealand’s Dylan Henton 21-11 21-12 in another match. The World number 31 Indian will next take on 14th seed Kuei Chun Shih of Chinese Taipei. Arvind’s match was a hard-fought battle as Ting recovered from 4-9 to 10-10 in the first game but the Indian didn’t give him any chance after that and comfortably pocketed the game. In the second game also, Ting fought back from 6-11 down to reach 11-11. Arvind moved ahead to open up a 17-12 lead but Ting soon turned the tables at 21-20. But Arvind’s experience helped him to wriggle out and seal the issue. PTI