Priyanshu Rajawat on Friday cruised into the men’s singles semi-final at the Syed Modi International tournament in Lucknow. Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto beat compatriots Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand in the women’s doubles quarter-finals to reach the last-four.
Facing Indonesian qualifier Alwi Farhan in the men’s singles quarter-final, Rajawat took a 5-0 and 11-6 lead. Hasan did not let Rajawat run away with the game and reduced Rajawat’s lead to a point at 15-14.
However, the Indian won five points on the trot to bring up game points and clinched the game 21-15.
Rajawat started the second game by racing to a 7-2 lead but Farhan fought back to lead 11-10 lead the mid-game break. The Indonesian led 16-5 only for Rajawat to win six points in a row to clinch the match 21-15, 21-6. Rajawat will face Chinese Taipei’s Chi Yu Jen in the semi-final.
In the women’s doubles quarter-finals, fourth seeds Treesa and Gayatri took a 13-7 lead before seventh seeds Ponnappa and Crasto wiped out their lead by going on a five-point run. The two pairs exchanged the lead a couple of times before Ponnappa and Crasto won three points in a row to snatch the first game 21-19.
Ponnappa and Crasto began the second game with a bang racing to a 12-0 lead effectively ending their opponent’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals. Though they did win the occasional point, Treesa and Gayatri never looked like they could muster a comeback.
Ponnappa and Crasto secured a comfortable 21-19, 21-8 win to book their place in the semi-finals where they will face the winner of the match between Japanese top seeds Yuki Fukushima-Sayaka Hirota and German eighth seeds Linda Efler-Isabel Lohau.
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