Australian Open: HS Prannoy Beats Compatriot Priyanshu Rajawat to Books Spot in Final

India’s HS Prannoy defeated his compatriot Priyanshu Rajawat to book their place in the final of the Australian Open Super 500 badminton tournament in Sydney on Saturday.

Prannoy will now take on China’s Weng Hong Yang in the title clash on Sunday.

In the all-Indian men’s singles semifinal clash, Prannoy emerged victorious 21-18, 21-12 in 43 minutes over Rajawat in the BWF World Tour event with a total prize fund of US dollar 420,000.

Prannoy now has a 2-0 advantage against world number 31 Rajawat, having beaten him at the Syed Modi International in 2022 previously.

Prannoy has looked in supreme touch throughout the week with his stunning come-from-behind win over world number 2 and top seed Anthony Ginting in the quarterfinals being the highlight.

On Saturday, Prannoy once again showed his capability to draw out errors from his younger opponent, who is known for his fast hand and leg speed and speedy net play.

Rajawat beg?an on a positive note with his service earning him a 2-0 initial lead but Prannoy slowly started constructing his points and pushed his young challenger to err, registering four straight points to move ahead.

Rajawat tried to step up the attack and two good-looking jump smashes helped him to draw parity at 7-7 but unforced errors continued to undo his good work as Prannoy enjoyed a two-point cushion at the interval.

The 21-year-old from Madhya Pradesh tried to stay in the rallies and grabbed four out of five points after resumption to keep snapping at his senior rival’s heels.

Prannoy slumped into a pool of errors after the interval as Rajawat levelled the score at 14-14. The youngster managed to move neck-and-neck till 18-18.

However, a patient Prannoy grabbed two game points after unleashing a lethal smash and a backhand return and then sealed it comfortably to earn the bragging rights.

Nothing much changed after change of sides as Rajawat continued to struggle with his unforced errors, making life easy for Prannoy, who kept a high tempo and used his attacking play to open up a 5-2 lead early on.

Rajawat produced some good smashes but couldn’t sustain the attack as his efforts often ended at the nets or wide of the court.

The youngster, however, never stopped fighting and managed to claw back at 7-7 after winning four straight points, including a 41-shot rally.

It was when Prannoy sent one wide, found the net once and landed a cross court smash out that Rajawat produced a down-the-line smash but such moments were too few as the senior Indian once again broke off to take a 11-7 advantage at the breather.

Prannoy maintained his four-point lead when Rajawat again went wide. The youngster kept breathing down his opponent’s neck with a few more points, making it 11-13.

But Rajawat couldn’t keep up the work against the experienced Prannoy, who produced a late burst with a flurry of smashes to jump to 18-11 and soon grabbed eight match points and converted it at the first attempt.

Orleans Masters champion Rajawat was making his maiden appearance in a semifinal of a Super 500 tournament after knocking out compatriot Kidambi Srikanth 21-13 21-8 in a lop-sided men’s singles quarterfinal. On the other hand, world number 9 Prannoy came out victorious after a slugfest with world number 2 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia, bouncing back from an opening game reversal to notch up a gritty 16-21 21-17 21-14 win in a 73-minute battle.

Rajawat, the 21-year-old from Madhya Pradesh, who had joined Pullela Gopichand’s Gwalior academy at the age of 8, has improved by leaps and bounds in the last 12 months, having stretched Ginting, Japan’s Kodai Naraoka and compatriot Lakshya Sen to three games this season.

On Friday, two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, who has slipped to world number 17 following a series of early exits, was looking to make her fourth semifinal of the season but found it tough to tame USA’s world number 12 Beiwen Zhang, losing 12-21 17-21 in 39 minutes.

(With inputs from Agencies)

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