HS Prannoy stunned second seed Kento Momota in straight games to record a sensational win while reigning Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen also sailed into the men’s singles pre-quarter finals of the World Championships here on Wednesday. Unseeded Prannoy rose above expectations to shut the door on crowd favourite and two-time former world champion Momota 21-17, 21-16 in a second round tie.

Incidentally, it was Prannoy’s first win over Momota in eight matches. In their previous clashes, the Indian won only one game against his higher-rated Japanese rival. Earlier in the day, Lakshya sailed into the pre-quarter finals with a straight game win over Spain’s Luis Penalver. Lakshya won his second round contest 21-17, 21-10.

Prannoy and Lakshya will face each other in an all-Indian last-16 clash on Thursday. However, last edition’s runner-up Kidambi Srikanth crashed out after a straight game defeat to world No. 32 Zhao Jun Peng. Srikanth went down against his Chinese counterpart 18-21, 17-21 in a match lasting only 34 minutes.

Against Penalver, after trailing 3-4, the ninth seeded Lakshya grabbed a six-point lead to lead 13-7. The Indian ace continued to stay ahead before comfortably wrapping up the match.

Mixed fortunes Earlier, the Indian men’s doubles pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila moved to the pre-quarter finals but the women’s pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy made a second-round exit from the tournament. The unseeded Arjun and Kapila upstaged eighth seeds and last edition’s bronze medallists Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark 21-17, 21-16 in their second round match.

The eighth seeded men’s doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy thrashed Guatemala’s Solis Jonathan and Anibal Marroquin 21-8, 21-10. Ponnappa and Sikki were handed a 15-21, 10-21 loss by top seeds Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan of China. Pooja Dandu and Sanjana Santosh’s lost to third seeds Lee So Hee and Shin Seung Chan of Korea 15- 21, 7-21.