Star Indian shuttler HS Prannoy advanced to the quarterfinals with a stunning straight-game win over former world champion Loh Keen Yew of Singapore, but the curtain fell on Kidambi Srikanth at the Japan Open Super 750 tournament here on Thursday. Former world No. 8 Prannoy, who reached the quarter-finals of the World Championships last week, continued his stellar performance as he defeated eighth-seeded Loh 22-20 21-19 in a 44-minute second-round men’s singles match. defeated by
This is Prannoy’s third win against world No. 7 Singapore in four matches.
The 30-year-old Indian will next face Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen, who won bronze at the World Championships last week, in the quarterfinals. Currently ranked 18th in the world, Prannoy has beaten Chen in his last two matches, but is trailing 3-4 overall.
Upset Alert__
Continuing his good run in Tokyo @PRANNOYHSPRI Better than the 2021 world champion, WR-7 Loh Kean Yu__ in straight games 22-20, 21-19 to enter the last-8 #Japan Open2022 ,
Keep it up Winner!#BWFWorldTour#IndiaontheRise#badminton pic.twitter.com/nuhSBlXEmK— Bai Media (@BAI_Media) 1 September 2022
Srikanth, who had shocked world number 5 Malaysian Lee Zi Jia on Wednesday, however, could not extend his run as he faced local favorite and world number 17 Kanta Tsuneyama 10-21, 16-21. lost to.
Earlier the Japanese had defeated Srikanth in their only meeting at the Korean Open in 2019. In a fight between two highly-skilled gladiators, Prannoy showed nerves of steel as he returned 11-19 and 6-14 in two games to come trump against his young rival.
Prannoy got off to a good start but quickly lost momentum as his opponent scored five consecutive points at 7-8 to take an 11-8 lead at the break. Loh continued to dominate the rallies after resuming with his fast-paced game, which helped him sit comfortably at 19-11 at a time.
But Pranay had other ideas. The Indian soon made a six-point break to level 17-17, and even though Loh scored three game points, the Singaporean made a mistake twice and took his backhands over the net. Then, Prannoy regained the remaining points to earn bragging rights.
In the second game, Loh once again came out with all cylinders and took an 11-4 advantage. He rode on short rallies while the Indians faltered with his length as his cross-court return widened.
But Prannoy showed his steely resolve as he scripted a stellar recovery to come back 16-16 soon after the net exchange.
Prannoy tried to reduce the pace in the rallies and swung Loh around with his angled return. He also made some solid body strikes that Loh couldn’t negotiate, and his net play was better than his opponent’s.
The Indian soon secured two match points. Loh saved one before sailing wide as Prannoy continued to impress with his never give up attitude.