HS Prannoy enters quarterfinals of Malaysia Open

Star Indian shuttler HS Prannoy dished out another splendid show to progress to the mens singles quarterfinals with a thrilling win over Indonesias Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo in the Malaysia Open Super 750 tournament here on ThursdayThe World number 8 Indian looked in fine fettle as he staved off the spirited challenge from world number 19 Chico 219 1521 2116 in an hour and four minutesThe 30yearold from Kerala will take on either Malaysias Ng Tze Yong or Japans Kodai Naraoka nextCommonwealth Games bronze medallists Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand fought hard before going down 1321 2115 1721 to Bulgarias Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva in the womens doubles prequarterfinalsFor Prannoy it was his second meeting with Chico who had defeated him at the 2018 Syed Modi InternationalIn the form of his life Prannoy made a good start showing better control and his attack also earned him dividends as he led 75 before grabbing a 115 cushion at the intervalAlso readMalaysia Open Shuttler HS Prannoy stuns Lakshya Sen in thrilling opener PV Sindhu losesWith Chico struggling with the drifty conditions Prannoy ran away with the opening gameAfter the change of ends Chico showed better control as he eked out a 62 lead following a net exchange with his opponent The Indonesian seemed to attack more and soon moved to a 115 lead at the intervalBoth players looked to push each other in the rallies but Prannoy made errors in his finishing as Chico marched to 1711 with a reverse sliceThe Indonesian soon roared back into contest after converting five game pointsIn the decider Prannoy was all fired up as he landed some precise returns on the lines to move to 52 He managed to keep his rival moving to and fro with his angled returns extracting errors to take a handsome fivepoint lead at the breakPrannoy was spot on with his shot selection landing his straight and cross court smashes away from his diving opponent to accumulate pointsChico played some lovely shots but he was inconsistent during the rallies as Prannoy established his fivepoint advantage at 1712 Another razor sharp straight jump smash followed by another shot at the backline gave Prannoy six match pointsThe Indonesian saved two before sending one to the net as Prannoy celebratedEarlier Treesa and Gayatri ranked 16th in the world went down narrowly to the world No 14 Stoeva sisters in a match that clocked an hour and nine minutesThe Stoeva sisters who competed at the 2016 and 2020 Olympics were clearly the better players in the opening game as they quickly jumped to a 60 lead and then held their fort despite a mini fightback from the Indians who brought the equation down to 912 at one stageThe second game was a tight affair as Treesa and Gayatri kept breathing down their opponents neck before breaking off at 1414 to take the match to the deciderIn the third game the Indian pair had slender leads of 64 and 1413 but the Bulgarian combination didnt relent this time moving ahead from 1414 to seal the contestTreesa and Gayatri will meet France duo of Margot Lambert and Anne Tran in their next tournament at India Open Super 750 next weekThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever