Vietnam Open: Ajay Jayaram, Rituparna Das and Mithun Manjunath enter quarter-finals

Ho Chi Minh City: Indian shuttlers Ajay Jayaram, Rituparna Das and Mithun Manjunath were through to the quarterfinals of the $75,000 Vietnam Open Tour Super 100 tournament on Thursday. Jayaram, who touched a career-high rank of 13, toppled top seeded Brazilian Ygor Coelho 22-20, 21-14 in 34 minutes and will next face Canada’s Xiaodong Sheng. [caption id=“attachment_4527641” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Ajay Jayaram. AFP[/caption] The 30-year-old had reached the finals at the White Nights last month and ended a runner-up at the Korea Open Super Series in 2015. Former national champion Rituparna beat Chinese Taipei’s sixth seed Sung Shuo Yun 21-8, 21-14 to set up a meeting with Thailand’s Phittayaporn Chaiwan next. Young Manjunath, who had reached the semifinals at the Russian Open last month, staved off a stiff challenge from Thailand’s Adulrach Namkul 18-21, 21-13, 21-19 in a 56-minute clash. He will face China’s Zhou Zeqi next. However, it was curtains for Kartik Jindal after he lost 10-21, 22-24 to Canada’s Xiaodong Sheng. Up against Coelho, who had defeated HS Prannoy in the World Championship last week, Jayaram opened up a 6-1 lead before managing a 11-8 advantage at the interval. After the breather, Coelho turned the tables, leading 12-11 but Jayaram again grabbed the advantage to lead 16-13. The Brazilian caught up at 20-20 before the Indian reeled off the required two points to pocket the first game. In the second game, Jayaram came out firing on all cylinders, leading 5-1. He soon jumped to a 13-5 lead and even though Coelho reduced the deficit to 13-14, Jayaram held his fort to eventually shut the door on his rival.