Day 3 match report: Indian shuttler HS Prannoy stunned defending champion Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia to enter the quarter-finals of the Indonesia Open Superseries Premier badminton tournament on Thursday. The unseeded Prannoy outplayed top seed Wei 21-10, 21-18 in a match lasting around 40 minutes. [caption id=“attachment_3646231” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]
Srikanth Kidambi and HS Prannoy in action. Twitter: @BAI_Media[/caption] The 34-year-old seasoned Malaysian player won Indonesia Open Superseries in 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2016. His champion record in the annual tournament is comparable to Indonesian players Taufik Hidayat and Ardy B Wiranata. After winning the crucial match, Prannoy said that the Malaysian player was not at his best. “I did not have a prediction to win this match. All I did was trying to play more aggressive,” Prannoy said. In the upcoming quarter-final match, the Indian shuttler would take on the winner of a qualifying match between China’s seeded player Cheng Long and Indonesian player Jonatan Christie. In the other men’s singles match, Kidambi Srikanth defeated fourth seed Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark to advance. The Guntur-born player took around one hour to beat his opponent 21-15, 20-22, 21-16. In women’s singles category, it was a bad day for Saina Nehwal and Rio Olympic Bronze medallist, PV Sindhu, as they lost their matches and bowed out of the tournament. Saina was beaten by Thailand’s Nitchaon Jindapol 15-21, 21-6, 16-21 in a marathon match of over one hour while fourth seed Sindhu was outplayed by Beiwen Zhang 21-15, 12-21, 18-21.
Highlights Indonesia SSP, badminton scores and results: HS Prannoy, Kidambi Srikanth cause major upsets to enter semis
Catch all the live scores and updates from the quarter-finals of the 2017 BCA Indonesia Superseries Premier as HS Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth eye semi-final spots.
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That’s it, then! We have come to an end to today’s quarter-finals matches at the 2017 BCA Indonesia Superseries Premier. There is no hiding that it was an exceptional day for Indian shuttlers as both HS Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth sealed the semi-final spots. Prannoy stunned the reigning Olympic champion Chen Long, while Srikanth eased past Tzu Wei Wang. Also, Nitchaon Jindapol sidelined defending champion Tai Tzu Ying in three games.
We hope that you enjoyed our live blog and make sure you visit again as Prannoy and Srikanth will fight it out to seal a spot in the final of the men’s singles. Till then, take care!
Sung Ji Hyun wins third game: 21-14, qualifies for the semi-finals
Though Sung Ji lost the second game to a resurgent Xiaoxin, she proved to be too much for the Chinese and sailed away with the match booking a place in the semi-finals
Chen Xiaoxin wins second game 23-21
Unnerved about being outplayed in the first game, Xiaoxin fought back to clinch the second game and stay alive in the match.
Time for a decider
Sung Ji Hyun wins first game: 21-6
A dominant performance by Sung Ji there as she takes her position and hits a variety of shots to trounce Chen Xiaoxin in the first game. The Korean shuttler is untouchable when it comes to court coverage and it looks like Xiaoxin will have to up the ante to get a result out of this.
True, eh?
Nitchaon Jindapol beats Tai Tzu Ying: 21-19, 8-21, 21-17
Tai Tzu’s tournament-winning streak comes to an end after Jindapol upsets the World No 1 in three games to enter the semis of the women’s singles. Jindapol had a grip on her base position and pounced on Tai’s errors throughout the match. Despite a shaky second game, the Thai shuttler managed to keep her calm and decided to push her opponent on the backcourt for better court coverage.
The loss to Jindapol also means that defending champion Tai Tzu finally tasted defeat after her brilliant run in Superseries tournaments, starting from the 2016 Yonex-Sunrise Hong Kong Open in November. Jindapol is on a roll as she beats two former champions – Saina Nehwal and now Tai Tzu Ying.
Nitchaon Jindapol wins first game: 21-19
Thailand’s Jindapol handles Tai’s attacking drives quite brilliantly to snatch the first game in 20 minutes. She has been delivering quick net shots from the forecourt despite Tai Tzu’s swift court coverage.
Rajiv Ouseph has taken the lead and looks in great shape going into the second game.
World No 1 Tai Tzu takes on Thailand’s Jindapol for the eighth time in a BWF event. The Chinese Taipei shuttler holds a 7-nothing lead in the head-to-head meetings against Jindapol. The duo recently played at the Singapore Superseries where Tai registered a comfortable straight-game win in 37 minutes.
HS Prannoy upsets Chen Long to enter semis: 21-18, 16-21, 21-19
What an outstanding display from HS Prannoy to stun the reigning Olympic champion Chen Long in three games. The Kerala-born shuttler knocked yet another higher-ranked shuttler at the BCA Indonesia Superseries Premier event. His aggressive approach in pressure situations made the difference against Long, who tried to mix his game with a blend of attack and defence but unfortunately couldn’t do much when needed the most. This is Prannoy’s first ever entry in a Superseries semi-final.
Srikanth is maintaining the lead over Tzu Wei!