Australian Open badminton: Shetty in quarters, Prannoy exits

Sydney, Nov 20 (PTI) Young Indian shuttler Ayush Shetty cruised into the quarterfinals of the Australian Open with a straight-game win against higher-ranked Japanese opponent Kodai Naraoka, while senior pro HS Prannoy made an early exit here on Thursday.

The top-seeded Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty too made it to the last-eight with an easy 21-18, 21-11 victory against Chinese-Taipei's Su Ching Heng and Wu Guan Xun in 37 minutes.

Shetty, winner of the Yonex US Open Super 300 tournament earlier this year, defeated fourth-seeded Naraoka 21-17, 21-16 in a contest lasting 68 minutes. This was his second win over the world No.9 Japanese this year to set up a quarterfinal showdown with compatriot Lakshya Sen.

However, Prannoy, who has not advanced beyond the pre-quarterfinals this year, could not keep up with eighth seed and former junior world champion Indonesian Farhan Alwi, losing 19-21, 10-21 in 42 minutes in the USD 475,000 Super 500 event.

On Wednesday, the 33-year-old Prannoy, an Asian Games bronze-medallist and a 2023 World Championships bronze winner, had been stretched by world No. 85 Yohanes Saut Marcellyno before the Indian won 6-21 21-12 21-17.

Shetty, who had beaten Naraoka in the Hong Kong Open this year, was given a tough fight by the higher-ranked Japanese as the lead kept changing hands before the Indian, who was leading 18-17, took the remaining three points to win the opening game.

The second game was clearly one-sided despite the Japanese keeping pace with Shetty till 14-all before the Indian raised his game a few notches to win five straight points to lead 19-14 and finally close out the match.

The Satwik-Chirag pair will take on the fifth-seeded Indonesian pair of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri in the quarterfinals. PTI AM AM UNG