French Open Superseries Update 5: Prannoy stuns Super Dan, leads Indian surge at French Open
HS Prannoy stunned China’s two-time Olympic and five-time World champion Lin Dan 14-21, 21-11, 21-17 to lead a spectacular Indian surge into the second round of the French Open Superseries in Paris on Wednesday. World No.16 Prannoy recovered from a first game defeat to overwhelm world No. 3 “Super Dan” in 71 minutes.
Earlier, women’s world No.1 Saina Nehwal, men’s World number 8 Parupalli Kashyap and women’s doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa also advanced to the second round at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin.
Meanwhile, World No.5 Kidambi Srikanth fell by the wayside, losing for the fourth time this year to Chinese world No. 10 Houwei Tian 15-21, 21-13, 11-21 who is turning out to become the Indian’s bugbear.
The 23-year-old Prannoy came back strongly in the second game after losing the opening game tamely to the left-hander, whom he had lost to in their only previous meeting at the Malaysian Open earlier this year.
Kerala-born Prannoy, who won the Indonesia Open Grand Prix Gold title last year, took a 16-10 lead in the second against the temperamental Chinese before closing out the game with a flourish.
The P Gopichand Academy trainee did one better in the decider, as he silenced the auditorium by taking a 7-0 lead. Maverick Dan clawed his way back as he leveled at 14-all before taking the lead for the first time in the game at the next point.
Prannoy shifted gears, possibly realizing this could be his best shot at a memorable upset, matching Dan shot for shot as he challenged the Chinese successfully at both net play and at the backcourt. Prannoy regained the lead and moved to 19-17 before clinching a sensational victory.
Earlier, Nehwal had eased past Canadian World No. 15 Michelle Li 21-18, 21- 13, Kashyap had defeated qualifier Thomas Rouxel of France 21-11, 22-20 while Gutta- Ponnappa beat the Thai pair of Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai 21-15, 21-12.
Nehwal, who bowed out in the second round of the premier Denmark Open last week, began tentatively against reigning Commonwealth Games champion Li, whom she was playing for the first time.
The 25-year-old Nehwal recovered after trailing 3-7 early but the Canadian matched the Indian point for point after the lead changed hands frequently before the two leveled at 16 when Nehwal netted a return. The Indian, however, took three straight points – a powerful smash, followed by a delicate net drop and another smash to the behind – to take a firm grip on the game and closed it.
The second game began closely before the Indian powered on by moving her opponent around the court with a mix of smashes and drops.
Women’s world No.13 PV Sindhu is scheduled to meet China’s Wang Shixian and Ajay Jayaram will take on Denmark’s Hans-Kristian Vittinghus later on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, B Sai Praneeth lost to Tzu Wei Wang of Chinese Taipei 21-15,21-15 in the qualifiers.
