Lakshya Sen stuns 4th seed Ginting; Prannoy, Srikanth, Krishna Prasad-Vishnuvardhan in German Open quarters

HS Prannoy's spectacular comeback story continues as the unseeded Indian shuttler stormed into the quarterfinals at the German Open in Muelheim an der Ruhr, Germany on Thursday.

Prannoy, who has been battling health issues for the last three years, booked his spot in the last-eight stage\ of the BWF World Tour Super 300 tournament in Germany.

Prannoy upset Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong China 21-19, 24-22 in the men’s singles second round outing to join Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen in the quarters.

The 29-year-old needed to stretch himself fully during a nail-biting 50-minute encounter against the world No. 17.

Prannoy, who is ranked 24 in the world, was trailing by a couple of points midway through the first game.

The experienced Indian player caught up with Yiu before scoring two straight points to clinch the first game 21-19.

It was an intense battle in the second game. Both Prannoy and Yiu were almost on equal footing before the Hong Kong star reeled off five successive points to take a massive 20-16 lead.

Prannoy did not panic and leveled the scores at 20-20 with a four-point burst. The Indian star also saved two game points again and converted his first match point to clinch the extended second game 22-20. Prannoy showed excellent composure and character to save six game points before wrapping up the match in straight games.

Sweet revenge for Prannoy against Lee Cheuk Yiu

It was sweet revenge for Prannoy against Lee Cheuk Yiu. At the China Open in 2017, Prannoy lost to Lee Cheuk Yiu 19-21, 17-21.

Prannoy will now clash with his young Indian counterpart Lakshya Sen for a spot in the semifinals on Friday.

In a late evening men’s singles second round encounter, Lakshya Sen stunned fourth seed Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia 21-7, 21-9 in 34 minutes.

World No. 12 Lakshya made light work of the higher-ranked Indonesian to book his third successive quarter-final berth on the BWF World Tour. World Championship bronze medallist Lakshya was ruthless in his commanding win over world No. 5 Ginting.

In their only meeting at the 2022 Indian Open, Lakshya Sen had rallied back to beat Prannoy 14-21, 21-9, 21-14 on his way to triumph in New Delhi a couple of months ago.

Kidambi Srikanth registered a hat-trick of wins against China’s Lu Guang Zu

World Championships silver winner and eighth seed Kidambi Srikanth has also progressed to the men’s singles quarterfinals.

Former world No. 1 Srikanth squeezed past China’s Lu Guang Zu 21-16, 21-23, 21-18 in a second-round match that lasted an hour and seven minutes.

It was the third consecutive victory for Srikanth over world No. 27 Lu Guang Zu.

World No. 11 Srikanth will now take on Tokyo Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen. World No. 1 Axelsen thumped France’s Toma Junior Popov 21-17, 21-10 in the second round.

The tall Dane leads the head-to-head record 8-3 having won the last five encounters against Srikanth.

PV Sindhu suffers surprising second-round defeat

Two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu surprisingly crashed out in the second round. Seventh seed Sindhu suffered a shock 14-21, 21-15, 14-21 loss to China's Zhang Yi Man in 55 minutes. It was their first meeting on the international circuit.

2019 world champion Sindhu failed to get going as world No. 34 Zhang broke off at 5-5 and jumped to a 11-5 lead with a six-point burst. Zhang kept her nose ahead to grab the opening game without much difficulty.

Stung by the reversal, world No. 7 Sindhu made a comeback in the second game as she fought her way to a slender 11-10 lead at the break. Sindhu then slowly marched ahead to bounce back into the contest.

In the decider, the Chinese found her bearings as she moved away after an initial duel to grab a 11-8 advantage at the interval. She didn’t give 26-year-old Sindhu much chance after that and soon shut the doors on her fancied opponent.

It proved to be a disappointing start to the European leg for Sindhu, who will be one of the contenders at next week’s All England Championships.

The Indian challenge in the women’s singles ended with the loss of Saina Nehwal. The London Olympics bronze medallist lost to eighth seed Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand 10-21, 15-21 in just over half an hour.

Krishna Prasad and Vishnuvardhan Goud win all-India men’s doubles clash

Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala overcame tough challenges from their Indian counterparts Ishaan Bhatnagar and K Sai Pratheek 23-21, 16-21, 21-14 to enter the quarterfinals.

In an all-Indian men’s doubles clash, world No. 50 Krishna Prasad and Vishnuvardhan Goud won in an hour and three minutes. It was their second win against the world No. 92 Ishaan and Sai Pratheek.

Indian Results (Round 2)

Men’s singles

8-Kidambi Srikanth bt Lu Guang Zu (China) 21-16, 21-23, 21-18 (67 minutes)

Lakshya Sen bt 4-Anthony Sinisuka Ginting (Indonesia) 21-7, 21-9 (34 minutes)

HS Prannoy bt Lee Cheuk Yiu (Hong Kong China) 21-19, 24-22 (50 minutes)

Women’s singles

7-PV Sindhu lost to Zhang Yi Man (China) 14-21, 21-15, 14-21 (55 minutes)

Saina Nehwal lost to 8-Ratchanok Intanon (Thailand) 10-21, 15-21 (31 minutes)

Men’s doubles

Krishna Prasad Garaga-Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala bt Ishaan Bhatnagar-K Sai Pratheek 23-21, 16-21, 21-14 (63 minutes)

Women’s doubles

Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand Pullela lost to 1-Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yi Fan (China) 16-21, 12-21 (40 minutes).