HS Prannoy, Satwik-Chirag advance; Praneeth, Sameer exit
KUALA LUMPUR: Indian shuttler HS Prannoy faced stiff resistance before prevailing over local hero Daren Liew to progress to the men's singles second round of the Malaysia Open, here on Tuesday.
A former top-10 player, Prannoy, who had reached the semifinals of Indonesia Open Super 1000 earlier this month, emerged 21-14, 17-21, 21-18 winner in 62 minutes.
The 29-year-old from Kerala, ranked 21st currently, will face fourth seeded Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei next at the Super 750 badminton tournament.
Prannoy's win brought some cheers to the Indian camp after B Sai Praneeth and Sameer Verma made early exits.
While Praneeth went down to world number six Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia, Sameer lost to world number 8 Jonatan Christie, also from Indonesia.
The 30-year-old Praneeth, currently ranked world number 19, lost 15-21, 21-19, 9-21 to Ginting in a 50-minute men's single match.
This was eighth meeting between the two players with the Indonesian now leading the head-to-head record 5-3.
They last played at the 2020 Asian Team championships where Ginting won the contest after Praneeth retired due to an injury.
Sameer, who was making a comeback from injury, fought for 49 minutes before losing 14-21, 21-13, 7-21 in another men's singles match.
In the men's doubles, the duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty displayed class and got the better of Malaysian pair of Chi Lin Wang and Yang Lee 21-18, 21-11 in the opening round.
However, in women's doubles, the pairing of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy bowed out of the tournament after losing 15-21, 11-21 to Japanese duo of Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida, seeded sixth.
Prannoy was slow off the mark but opened up a healthy 11-7 lead at the break. His strokes penetrated the defence of his opponent, who looked little passive as the Indian was rewarded for his alertness and better control in the rallies.
The Indian kept putting the shuttles on the right areas and with Liew making some uncharacteristic errors, Prannoy's lead was not threatened.
In the end, it was another return at the baseline which gave Prannoy the bragging rights.