Indian shuttler HS Prannoy is the only player from the country still active in the draw at the Taipei Open Super 300, after the world No 9 beat Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto on Thursday at the Tian-Mu Arena.
Prannoy, the third seed, came up with a straight-forward 21-9, 21-17 win over the former world No 3, whose ranking has currently dropped down to 95.
After getting to 1-1 in the opening game, the in-form Indian claimed the next seven points on the trot to race to a 8-1 lead, and then continued in that same vein to take the opening game 21-9.
There was some resistance in the second game though, as Sugiarto started to find some rhythm and led from the start – at one stage even leading 10-3. But the 30-year-old started to fight back and eventually drew level at 15-15. At 17-17, Prannoy picked up the next four points on the trot to finish off the match.
Prannoy, who just last week reached the semi-final of the Indonesia Open Super 1000, is now the only Indian left in the competition. He will next play Hong Kong shuttler Ng Ka Long Angus, the fifth seed, in the quarterfinal.
Earlier in the day, Parupalli Kashyap lost out to Chinese Taipei’s Su Li Yang 16-21, 17-21.
In mixed doubles, Rohan Kapoor and Sikki Reddy lost 13-21, 18-21 to Chinese Taipei’s Chiu Hsiang Chieh and Lin Xiao Min.
Later on, in women’s singles, top seed Tai Tzu Ying got a straight-forward 21-11, 21-6 win over Tanya Hemanth.
Here’s a look at the Indian results from Thursday:
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