Star Indian shuttler HS Prannoy scripted a fine comeback to defeat Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto in men’s singles quarterfinals clash to advance into the semifinals of the ongoing Malaysia Masters 2023 in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.
Prannoy showed remarkable resilience, making a great comeback to clinch the match by 25-23,18-21,21-13 in a marathon clash that lasted for 91 minutes.
From the start of the match, both shuttlers put on a superb show of defence by taking points turn by turn, however, the India ace prevailed in the first game 25-23.
In the second game, Prannoy slammed a brilliant cross-court smash to floor Nishimoto and level it at the start of the game. Nishimoto led the game at one point with 11-9 at the mid-game break.
After trailing Nishimoto took the second game by 21-18 and forced a decider. At the start of the decider, the game was completely balanced as both shuttlers tied at 4-4 but Prannoy moved to take a 7-4 lead.
With brilliant form and resilience, the Indian shuttler clinched the match by 25-23,18-21,21-13. World number nine Prannoy will lock horns with qualifier Christian Adinata of Indonesia.
In the women’s singles match PV Sindhu held her nerves and clinched the match against China’s Yi Man Zhang to advance into the semifinals with a hard-fought victory in the ongoing Malaysia Masters 2023.
Double Olympic medallist, Sindhu defeated lower-ranked Zhang 21-16, 13-21, 22-20 in a quarterfinal match that lasted for one hour and 14 minutes thriller.
Sindhu will face seventh seed and world number nine Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in the semifinals on Saturday.
On the other hand in another men’s singles quarterfinal match, Kidambi Srikanth suffered a defeat against Indonesian qualifier Christian Adinata 21-16, 16-21, 11-21 in a match that lasted for 57 minutes in the quarterfinals to crash out of the tournament.
