HS Prannoy advances, Sai Praneeth, Sameer Verma exit Malaysia Open

A former top-10 player, Prannoy, who had reached the semifinals of Indonesia Open Super 1000 earlier this month, emerged a 21-14 17-21 21-18 winner in 62 minutes. The 29-year-old from Kerala, ranked 21st currently, will face fourth seeded Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei next at the Super 750 badminton tournament.

Prannoy's win brought some cheers to the Indian camp after B Sai Praneeth and Sameer Verma made early exits. While Praneeth went down to world number six Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia, Sameer lost to world number 8 Jonatan Christie, also from Indonesia. The 30-year-old Praneeth, currently ranked world number 19, lost 15-21 21-19 9-21 to Ginting in a 50-minute men's single match. This was the eighth meeting between the two players with the Indonesian now leading the head-to-head record 5-3. They last played at the 2020 Asian Team championships where Ginting won the contest after Praneeth retired due to an injury. Sameer, who is making a comeback from injury, fought for 49 minutes before losing 14-21 21-13 7-21 in another match. In doubles, the women's pairing of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy also bowed out of the tournament after losing 15-21 11-21 to Japanese duo of Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida, seeded sixth. Prannoy was slow off the mark but opened up a healthy 11-7 lead at the break. His strokes penetrated the defence of his opponent, who looked little passive as Prannoy was rewarded for his alertness and better control in the rallies. The Indian kept putting the shuttles on the right areas and with Liew making some uncharacteristic errors meant Prannoy's lead was not threatened. In the end, it was another return at the baseline which gave Prannoy the bragging rights. After the change of