H. S. Prannoy enters Japan Open quarterfinals, Srikanth loses

H. S. Prannoy, who had reached the quarterfinals of the world championships last week, continued his rampaging run as he saw off eighth seeded Loh 22-20 21-19 in a 44-minute second round men's singles match

Star Indian shuttler H. S. Prannoy breezed into the quarterfinals with a stunning straight-game win over former world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore but it was curtains for Kidambi Srikanth at the Japan Open Super 750 tournament here on Thursday.

A former world number 8, Prannoy, who had reached the quarterfinals of the world championships last week, continued his rampaging run as he saw off eighth seeded Loh 22-20 21-19 in a 44-minute second round men's singles match.

This was Prannoy's third win over the world number 7 Singaporean in four meetings.

The 30-year-old Indian will next face Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen, who won the bronze medal at the world championships last week, in the quarterfinal stage.

Prannoy, currently ranked world number 18, has beaten Chen in their last two meetings, but overall, he is 3-4 behind.

Srikanth, who had shocked world number 5 Malaysian Lee Zii Jia on Wednesday, however, couldn't extend his run as he went down 10-21 16-21 to local favourite and world number 17 Kanta Tsuneyama.

The Japanese had defeated Srikanth at the Korean Open in 2019 in their only meeting prior to this.