Indian youngster Priyanshu Rajawat pulled off the biggest win of his fledgling international career so far as he powered past top seed Kenta Nishimoto in the round of 16 at the Orleans Masters Super 300 event in France on Thursday.

Joining him in the quarterfinals will be men’s doubles seventh seeds Dhruv Kapila and MR Arjun who won a three-game thriller late on against Kenya Mitsuhashi and Hiroki Okamura of Japan.

There was, however, disappointment for 2022 finalist Mithun Manjunath who bowed out in straight games against Yu Jen Chi.

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Later on, in mixed doubles, new pairing of Sai Pratheek and Tanisha Crasto nearly produced another big upset, having a match against seventh seeds but Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei prevailed in three thrilling games. In women’s singles, Tanya Hemanth bowed out in straight games.

Playing his first match on the BWF World Tour against a top 15 opponent, the 21-year-old Rajawat, ranked No 58 in the world, came through in straight games 21-8, 21-16 against world No 12 Nishimoto.

The Japanese star, who had won the title last week in Madrid at the Spain Masters, was off to a poor start as Rajawat raced to a 10-0 lead in the opening game. While Nishimoto, as he tends to, rallied back from it to find his footing, the gap was too big to overcome and Rajawat took the lead 21-8.

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The second game was a much closer affair with things evenly poised at 10-10, and Nishimoto then taking a slender lead into the interval. But the Indian once again put together a brilliant run of points to go from 10-11 to 16-11. That little burst proved to be game-changing as despite a late fightback from Nishimoto, a former top 10 player, the Indian prevailed to win.

Rajawat, who was part of India’s Thomas Cup title-winning squad last year, has previously reached the final at the Odisha Open which was a Super 100 event last year.

Rajawat will next face Yu Jen Chi after the Chinese Taipei shuttler prevented an all-Indian clash by defeating Mithun. The Indian national champion paid the price first for just a brief lapse of concentration in the opening game. Later, when he looked set to force the decider by leading 19-17, Yu came back to win four straight points to close the match out. It was a defeat of fine margins for Mithun, who made costly errors at critical times while otherwise playing a solid match.

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In men’s doubles, India’s sole entries in the main draw reached the last eight as Dhruv and Arjun overcame a determined fight from Mitsuhashi and Okamura. The Indians took the opening game 21-15 but the Japanese pair came back strongly to take the second game. The decider was a see-saw affair where the Indians had a 11-7 lead at the change of ends but the Japan pair storm back to take a 16-14 lead. But Dhruv and Arjun held their nerve to win seven straight points in a row to close the match.

They will next face the Indonesian pair of Leo Rolly Carnando and Daniel Marthin.

In mixed doubles, Tanisha and Sai were close to a big upset, winning the first game and then leading 12-4 in the second game against Chen and Toh. But the Malaysians produced a stunning turnaround to take the second game. The third game looked like it might be straight forward for the seeds but the Indians fought hard from 1-6 down and even had a match point. But a couple of costly errors at the end gave the match to the Malaysian duo. Tanisha is playing with Sai in the absence of her regular partner Ishaan Bhatnagar who is out injured.

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In women’s singles, 18-year-old Tanya Hemanth struggled in the opening game but put up a superb fight in the second game before eventually bowing out in straight games against world No 33 Natsuki Nidaira.

In women’s doubles, Li Yi Jing and Luo Xu Min won in straight games against Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto. The Indians had their moments in the 2nd game but couldn’t convert a couple of game points to force a decider.

Read more about how India’s matches unfolded here on Twitter.

Here’s a look at the Indian results from Thursday.