World No. 9 Prannoy HS reached his second final in a BWF World Tour Super 500 event this year after he got past compatriot Priyanshu Rajawat 21-18, 21-12 in men’s singles semifinal at the ongoing Australia Open 2023, here on Saturday.
Prannoy, who won the Malaysia Masters — his maiden World Tour title in May, will be up against world no. 24, China’s Weng Hong Yang for the Australia Open title on Sunday.
Priyanshu Rajawat is an Indian badminton player. He was part of the India team that won the 2022 Thomas Cup.
In the all-Indian semi-final clash, Prannoy and Priyanshu went toe-to-toe in the early exchanges. As the match progressed, both the Indian badminton players battled to gain the upper hand.
Haseena Sunil Kumar, also known as H. S. Prannoy, is an Indian badminton player who currently trains at the Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad. Prannoy originally hails from Thiruvananthapuram and has a career-high world ranking of number 7, which he attained in May 2023.
With the scores tied at 18-all, Prannoy, seeded sixth won three consecutive points to take the lead in the match.
The 31-year-old Prannoy carried the momentum in the second game and raced to a 7-3 lead. However, the 21-year old won four consecutive points to level the scores at 7-all.
Prannoy, though, upped his game to go into the mid-game break with a 11-7 lead. On return, Prannoy dominated Priyanshu and won the match in 43 minutes to seal a berth in the final.
With this win now, Prannoy now leads Orleans Masters champion Priyanshu Rajawat 2-0 in the head-to-head record.
