Star Indian shuttler HS Prannoy dished out another splendid show to progress to the men’s singles quarterfinals with a thrilling win over Indonesia’s Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo in the Malaysia Open Super 750 tournament here on Thursday.
The World number 8 Indian looked in fine fettle as he staved off the spirited challenge from world number 19 Chico 21-9, 15-21, 21-16 in an hour and four minutes.
The 30-year-old from Kerala will take on either Malaysia’s Ng Tze Yong or Japan’s Kodai Naraoka next.
Commonwealth Games bronze medalists Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand fought hard before going down 13-21, 21-15, 17-21 to Bulgaria’s Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva in the women’s doubles pre-quarterfinals.
For Prannoy, it was his second meeting with Chico, who had defeated him at the 2018 Syed Modi International.
In the form of his life, Prannoy made a good start, showing better control and his attack also earned him dividends as he led 7-5 before grabbing an 11-5 cushion at the interval.
