HS Prannoy stormed into his second final of the season with a comprehensive straight-game win over young compatriot Priyanshu Rajawat at the Australia Open Super 500 badminton tournament here on Saturday.
The 31-year-old Prannoy rode on his power and precision to outwit the 21-year-old Rajawat 21-18, 21-12 in the men’s singles semi-finals.
“It is very satisfying (to win), because it is always tough to play continuously against the top 10 players and beating them and if you look at the men’s singles section, players in their 30s and 40s are also very tough these days,” Prannoy said after the win.
“The last two years have been good for me, I have been consistently able to pull off matches and this year has been special and I hope I can do something similar to what I did in Malaysia,” he said.
The world No. 9 Indian will square off against China’s Weng Hong Yang in the summit clash on Sunday.
Interestingly, world No. 24 Weng is the same opponent whom Prannoy had defeated in the final of the Malaysia Masters in May to win his first individual title in six years. It is also their only meeting so far in the international circuit.
“Weng is very tricky, he can play big matches. In the last six months, he has gone out there and beaten a lot of big names. So it is not easy and especially being a left-hander, he has a lot of advantage over a lot of players. But a final is a final and I will go all out tomorrow (Sunday),” Prannoy said.
