That will be all from the back-to-back tournaments in Malaysia. Singapore Open Super 500 next week. Will be worth keeping an eye on how many of the Indians take part in it.
HS Prannoy 21-17, 9-21, 17-21 Ng Ka Long Angus: Prannoy’s run of 3 straight wins against Ng Ka Long Angus comes to an end. Led 8-4 in decider and that phase of play where Ng Ka Long won 7 points in a row hurt Prannoy. Good fight in the end but title wait continues. Was a great chance this week for him to go the distance given the semifinal lineup and his good recent record against the Hong Kong shuttler.
HS Prannoy 21-17, 9-21, 17-21 Ng Ka Long Angus: The usually unflappable Ng Ka Long Angus is pumped up after a great backhand block that drops in front of Prannoy. The decider was a great battle between two former top 10 players. It is the former champion who progresses while Prannoy’s title wait continues for now.
HS Prannoy 21-17, 9-21, 17-20 Ng Ka Long Angus: Oh dear, Prannoy got the serve back but gives it back too with a bad error at the net. Match points.
HS Prannoy 21-17, 9-21, 16-19 Ng Ka Long Angus: WHAT A POINT! Somehow Angus stays in it under pressure from Prannoy and then closes it out, another big celebration from him. Great rally from both players that one.
HS Prannoy 21-17, 9-21, 16-17 Ng Ka Long Angus: There is another error by Angus at the net, Prannoy stays patient. One point game!
HS Prannoy 21-17, 9-21, 15-17 Ng Ka Long Angus: For the first time, a real roar from Angus. He has had good service returns today... Prannoy gets the serve back with a good smash.
HS Prannoy 21-17, 9-21, 14-16 Ng Ka Long Angus: Good inside out forehand crosscourt. Good follow up at the net to Angus’ body... life in this still for the Indian.
HS Prannoy 21-17, 9-21, 12-16 Ng Ka Long Angus: Doesn’t really look good for Prannoy at the moment. Barely able to dictate rallies.
HS Prannoy 21-17, 9-21, 12-14 Ng Ka Long Angus: There’s the power that’s been missing for a bit now. Good crosscourt winner. Quiet fist punch.
HS Prannoy 21-17, 9-21, 11-14 Ng Ka Long Angus: Good pace from Prannoy in that rally. Needs a few chances to kill it, but the point eventually goes his way. Then sends a clear long and turns back slowly to his coach.
HS Prannoy 21-17, 9-21, 10-13 Ng Ka Long Angus: The run of points ends at 7. Angus sends a crosscourt wide. (Might have been in actually).
HS Prannoy 21-17, 9-21, 9-13 Ng Ka Long Angus: Prannoy just looks a yard or two behind the pace at the moment, reacting late to shots than he normally would. Not at his physical best.
HS Prannoy 21-17, 9-21, 9-11 Ng Ka Long Angus: Prannoy led 8-4 at one point but on a run of 5 straight points, Angus takes a good lead into the final change of ends. Not good news for the Indian given he struggled from the far side.
HS Prannoy 21-17, 9-21, 9-10 Ng Ka Long Angus: Terrific run for Angus. HSP’s shows good defence to stay in the rally this time but eventually another kill shot aimed at Prannoy’s body.
HS Prannoy 21-17, 9-21, 9-9 Ng Ka Long Angus: The 8th seed is back level. Another long-ish rally.
HS Prannoy 21-17, 9-21, 9-8 Ng Ka Long Angus: Another slow-burn rally that ends with a good kill at the net by Angus, aimed at HSP’s body again. That’s come in handy for him
HS Prannoy 21-17, 9-21, 9-7 Ng Ka Long Angus: Both players have largely looked to keep the rallies short, even the longer ones have been quick exchanges. But here comes a patient one, the longest of the match that ends with 38 shots. A nice crosscourt winner from Angus that leaves Prannoy on the floor.
HS Prannoy 21-17, 9-21, 9-6 Ng Ka Long Angus: A great forehand net shot by Angus and Prannoy can’t get the lift over. Another great net exchange next rally and Prannoy wins it on the back of a little net chord help.
HS Prannoy 21-17, 9-21, 8-4 Ng Ka Long Angus: A good body attack by Angus but that’s followed by two good points for Prannoy. One of those with another huge roar, geeing himself up.
HS Prannoy 21-17, 9-21, 3-6 Ng Ka Long Angus: The intensity is back and that’s a good sign for Prannoy. He needs a lead before the final change of ends. A really good rally at 5-3 that sees a nice backhand block from Prannoy and he wins 4 in a row.
HS Prannoy 21-17, 9-21, 3-3 Ng Ka Long Angus: Switching back on quickly is going to be crucial at the start of the decider. A roar there early from the Indian to perhaps to boot his system back up perhaps. Good even start to the decider.
HS Prannoy 21-17, 9-21 Ng Ka Long Angus: Yeah, Prannoy wasn’t going to lunge for a spinning net shot at 9-20 was he? A big lead for Angus meant that Prannoy perhaps decided it was best to go all out in the decider. Hopefully it didn’t take all the momentum and rhythm out of him.
HS Prannoy 21-17, 9-20 Ng Ka Long Angus: A forehand goes wide and game points galore for Angus.
HS Prannoy 21-17, 9-18 Ng Ka Long Angus: Ah, there is that Prannoy backhand. He plays it with great power. Good shot but the game is all but done.
HS Prannoy 21-17, 7-17 Ng Ka Long Angus: Prannoy seems to have decided to conserve for the imminent decider.
HS Prannoy 21-17 6-15 Ng Ka Long Angus: It’s all Angus at the moment and apart from that good rally, the points are not even long.
HS Prannoy 21-17 6-13 Ng Ka Long Angus: Oh, what a rally! A stunning exchange at the net by both players and good movement, with Prannoy dodging a close one at his body, but he sends a crosscourt shot long in the end. Longest rally of the match at 35 shots.
HS Prannoy 21-17 6-12 Ng Ka Long Angus: Oh dear, that’s a bad miss by Prannoy! Nearly outside the court, forget the lines. But plays a really good point after that
HS Prannoy 21-17 5-11 Ng Ka Long Angus: A precise push to Prannoy’s deep forehand corner and Angus has a big lead at the interval.
HS Prannoy 21-17 5-10 Ng Ka Long Angus: Series of errors from Prannoy as he is unable to get his length right. And then another one at the net. He’s gone off the boil here.
HS Prannoy 21-17 5-8 Ng Ka Long Angus: Prannoy misses the backline couple of times and then sends a crosscourt net shot wide. Angus pushes ahead.
HS Prannoy 21-17 5-5 Ng Ka Long Angus: Prannoy’s caught up, good crosscourt downward shot.
HS Prannoy 21-17 4-5 Ng Ka Long Angus: A smash winner from Prannoy, followed by a net chord aided point for Angus followed by a good backhand kill at net by Prannoy. Good back and forth in this second game.
HS Prannoy 21-17 2-4 Ng Ka Long Angus: Good start to the 2nd game by Angus.
(Score corrected)
HS Prannoy 21-17 Ng Ka Long Angus: Prannoy kept Angus at an arm’s length for most of the opening game. Just around the 18-16 mark, there was a pressure point but the Indian pushed ahead.
HS Prannoy 20-16 Ng Ka Long Angus: Another error by Angus. Game points galore.
HS Prannoy 19-16 Ng Ka Long Angus: Prannoy caught off guard by a late get by Angus. And a huge roar by Prannoy next, and it shows how much he wanted that. Angus was closing in.
HS Prannoy 18-14 Ng Ka Long Angus: Oh dear, what a miss by Angus. Prannoy was scrambling, actually went in the wrong direction too but then the 8th seed goes high up and nets a jump smash. Bad miss. Could have been a 2-point game, instead a 4-point lead for HSP.
HS Prannoy 17-14 Ng Ka Long Angus: Good rally from both players and Angus finishes off a good body attack. 22-shot rally. Prannoy’s backhand goes wide next. Angus closing the gap.
HS Prannoy 16-12 Ng Ka Long Angus: Angus with good winners followed by a series of errors. Not able to find the consistency yet. Prannoy staying solid.
HS Prannoy 14-11 Ng Ka Long Angus: Terrific smash and spinning shot at the net combo by Angus.
HS Prannoy 14-10 Ng Ka Long Angus: Another good net exchange goes in favour Prannoy.
HS Prannoy 13-9 Ng Ka Long Angus: Oh, bad miss by Prannoy. A great push to the backcourt and with an open court to kill, netted the shuttle. No mistake next rally though, good follow up.
HS Prannoy 11-*7 Ng Ka Long Angus: Correction to the score. Quick words from coach Siyadath. Prannoy needed some treatment to his foot last night, commentator Steen says it was a nail that came off, nothing serious.
HS Prannoy 11-7 Ng Ka Long Angus: A wasted challenge by Prannoy but soon after Angus sends a smash well wide. Solid start by the Indian.
HS Prannoy 10-6 Ng Ka Long Angus: Another good smash winner from HSP.
HS Prannoy 9-5 Ng Ka Long Angus: Earlier in the match, the commentators discussed about Prannoy is the only player who has built on the famous Thomas Cup win. Rest of the contingent hasn’t played much at all since, so they do have a point.
HS Prannoy 9-5 Ng Ka Long Angus: The crosscourt smash working really well for HSP early on and then now a straight smash too to mix things up from the same position.
HS Prannoy 4-3 Ng Ka Long Angus: Prannoy starts with a couple of errors but has found his range quickly to inch ahead.
HS Prannoy vs Ng Ka Long Angus: 9th meeting, and Prannoy has won the last three times these two have met. Huelva Worlds, German Open and Indonesian Open not long ago.
Women’s singles: For the second straight week in Malaysia, Tai Tzu Ying defeats PV Sindhu in three games in the quarterfinals and then loses against Chen Yufei in the semifinal. The Olympic champion reduces the H2H against TTY to 6-17 in 23 meetings.
Angus Ng Ka-long cruised into the Malaysia Masters semi-finals Friday after he beat world number four Chou Tien Chen, who became the latest high-ranked badminton player to be eliminated.
The 28-year-old Hong Kong shuttler secured progression after an hour, having to recover after going down to his 32-year-old opponent from Taiwan in the first game 13-21. He went on to win the next two games 21-12 and 21-13.
Ng was error prone in the opening game, but recovered admirably with a clear strategy in the next two, which saw him dictate the net exchanges and bait Chou into unforced errors with powerful baseline drives.
This year’s Malaysia Masters had lost some of its shine due to the absence of top-ranking shuttlers.
Japan’s defending champion Kento Momota crashed out Thursday after a straight game loss against compatriot Kanta Tsuneyama, while world number one Viktor Axelsen pulled out citing a need to “rest and recharge” after winning last week’s Malaysia Open.
The 13th-ranked Ng said Axelsen’s absence made the men’s singles competition more open.
“I cannot take anything for granted, as the rest of the competitors are strong. I will prepare the best way possible and hope it goes my way tomorrow,” he said.
Ng will contest the semis against India’s H.S.Prannoy, while Lu Guang Zu of China takes on Indonesia’s Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo in the other match-up.
— AFP report
Hello and welcome to live coverage of HS Prannoy’s semifinal at the Malaysia Masters Super 500 event in Kuala Lumpur.
HS Prannoy reached his third semifinal of the BWF World Tour season on the back of yet another entertaining, attacking match against a higher-ranked shuttler. Prannoy saved game points in both games to overcome a stiff challenge from Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama, eventually winning a gripping quarterfinal 25-23, 22-20 at the Malaysia Masters Super 500 in Kuala Lumpur.
The 29-year-old needed an hour, and some medical attention on his right foot, to get the better of the World No 14.
He is the last Indian standing after PV Sindhu couldn’t get past Tai Tzu Ying for the 7th straight match.
Screenshots in the blog courtesy BWF / Viacom 18 / Tournament Software