27 March,2022 07:00 AM IST | Mumbai | Agencies
HS Prannoy. Pics/Getty Images
Continuing his impressive run, India's HS Prannoy stormed into the men's singles final at the Swiss Open Super 300 badminton tournament with a hard-fought win over Indonesia's World No.5 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting here on Saturday.
Prannoy, 29, eked out a 21-19, 19-21, 21-18 win over Ginting in a thrilling semi-final that lasted an hour and 11 minutes, while PV Sindhu beat Supanida Katethong to enter the final. The Indian star shuttler beat Thailand's Katethong 21-18, 15-21, 21-19.
It was Prannoy's first final in five years, having won the US Open in 2017.
A former Top-10 player, Prannoy came into the match with a 1-1 head-to-head count against Ginting, who is currently ranked 21 places higher than him at World No.5.\
The Indian looked in good touch as he grabbed the initiative early and held a 6-3 lead which was quickly erased by Ginting to move to a 12-19 advantage at one stage.
A five-point burst gave Prannoy a slender two-point lead and he maintained it till 18-16 before a net error and a service fault helped his rival to level par.
Ginting, however, went to net twice himself to hand over Prannoy a game point and the Indian sealed it with a precise return on his rival's front court.
After a tight battle in the second game, it was Ginting who grabbed a three-point lead at the interval following a couple of errors from the Indian at the net and front court.
Prannoy tried to send his rival to the corners with his diagonal shots, but Ginting responded with a body return.
The Indian fought his way back to 18-19, but a judgement error at the backline gave one game point to Ginting, who squandered one with a net error before Prannoy smashed out to allow his rival to make a comeback.
The Indian increased his lead to 14-8, but he stumbled to a series of errors to allow Ginting make it 15-19. Prannoy unleashed a smash to grab four match points. He squandered two before entering the finals with another precise return.
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