India shuttler HS Prannoy progressed to the men’s singles quarter finals with a thrilling win over Indonesia’s Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo in the Malaysia Open Super 750 tournament here on Thursday.
The world No. 8 Indian looked in fine fettle as he staved off the spirited challenge from world No. 19 Chico 21-9, 15-21, 21-16 in an hour and four minutes.
World No. 5 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, seeded seventh, also entered the men’s doubles quarter finals after beating Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Bagas Maulana of Indonesia 21-19, 22-20 in 49 minutes.
Earlier, Commonwealth Games bronze medallists 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-quarter finals.
In the form of his life, Prannoy made a good start, showing better control and his attack also earned dividends as he led 7-5 before grabbing an 11-5 cushion at the interval.
With Chico struggling in the drifty conditions, Prannoy ran away with the opening game.
In the second game, the Indonesian roared back into the contest after converting five game points.
In the decider, Prannoy was all fired up as he landed some precise returns on the lines to move to 5-2.
