Tokyo [Japan], July 28 (ANI): India’s ace shuttler HS Prannoy misplaced his quarter-final conflict to World No. 1 shuttler Viktor Axelsen within the ongoing Japan Open 2023 on Friday.
Prannoy gained the primary recreation in a carefully fought encounter by 21-19. But the Danish shuttler bounced again to win the ultimate two video games and seal his place within the semi-finals.
Prannoy confirmed some struggle through the second recreation to ebook his place within the semi-final. He initially led the second recreation however Axelsen got here again to maintain the competition alive by 21-18.
The ultimate recreation was pure domination from the World No. 1 as he cruised by your entire recreation, hardly giving the Indian shuttler an opportunity to make a comeback. Prannoy failed to succeed in double digits as Axelsen gained the sport by 21-8.
Earlier within the day, the 2022 Commonwealth Champion Lakshya Sen registered a straight-set 21-15 21-19 victory over Watanabe to make his third successive semifinals, following his exploits in Canada and the United States.
Sen, who gained the Canada Open Super 500 earlier this month, jumped out to a 5-3 lead early on earlier than closing to 11-7 on the break. The Indian had little bother manoeuvring the Japanese and rapidly sealed the opening recreation with two cross-court returns on each side of the courtroom.
Watanabe tried to infuse some vitality into the rallies after switching sides, however Sen appeared in command and moved to 3-2 with a shocking cross courtroom drop. A 42-shot rally completed with Sen’s backhand falling into the web, giving Watanabe a 5-3 lead.
Sen, who trailed 7-14, staged a comeback, pulling his opponent to the web and making good use of drop pictures. With a cross-court smash, he rapidly turned the tables at 18-17. Sen secured one match level with two returns on his opponent’s backhand earlier than producing one other crisp return on the backhand line to clinch the match in opposition to his Japanese opponent.
Meanwhile, the Indian in-form males’s doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty did not convey their ‘A’ recreation into the match, falling 15-21 25-23 16-21 to Olympic winners Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lan of Chinese Taipei. (ANI)