Indian shuttlers Chetan, Pawar and Ajay in quarters of Dutch Open

New Delhi :

Indian shuttlers Chetan Anand, Ajay Jayaram and Anand Pawar notched up straight-game wins to reach the quarterfinals of the Dutch Open Grand Prix badminton tournament at Almere, the Netherlands.

Second seed Chetan defeated ninth seed Raul Must of Spain 21-13 21-12 in a 34-minute clash in the men's singles pre-quarterfinal to inch closer to regaining his title, which he won last year.

14th seed Pawar also saw off Japanese Shuhei Hayasaki 21-17 21-16 in a 32-minute match, while Jayaram beat 13th seed Kestutis Navickas of Lithuania 21-18 21-15 to keep his hopes of back-to-back title alive. Jayaram had defeated top seed Marc Zwiebler 21-19 21-17 in the second round after beating Manuel Batista 21-9 21-12 in the first round yesterday.

14th seed Pawar beat Yuhan Tan 19-21 21-15 21-16 in the first round, before brushing off Indonesian Indra Bagus Ade Candra 21-12 21-12 in the next stage.

Chetan, who got a walk over in the first round, survived some anxious moments before getting past Rune Massing 16-21 21-16 21-8 in the second round.