Priyanshu Rajawat notched the biggest win of his career on Friday after beating world No 4 Anders Antonsen 21-11, 17-21, 21-19 in the quarter-finals of the Canada Open Super 500.
The women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand bowed out in the quarter-finals after losing to Chinese Taipei’s Hsieh Pei Shan and Hung En Tzu 18-21, 21-19, 16-21.
Rajawat came into his quarter-final clash against the top seed Antonsen as the underdog and took his time to get going.
With the scores tied at 9-9 in the first game, Rajawat opened up a five-point lead to take charge of the game. Antonsen reduced the deficit by two points but Rajawat won seven points in a row to take the first game 21-11.
Antonsen recovered from the first game to raise his levels and win a topsy-turvy second game 21-17 with a four-point run at the end to force a decider.
Rajawat began the final game by taking a 5-1 lead only for his Danish opponent to win the next six points in a row. Antonsen went into the mid-game break with a slender 11-10 lead.
Both players exchanged the lead before Rajawat won the final two points to seal his win. The Indian will face France’s Alex Lanier in the semi-final on Saturday.
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