Priyanshu Rajawat of India scored an impressive straight-game victory over top seed Kenta Nishimoto of Japan to reach the men’s singles quarterfinals of the Orleans Masters Super 300 badminton tournament on Thursday.
IPL 2023: Get the complete list of batters with the most runs and check here
World no. 58 Rajawat showed immaculate skills and tactical acumen while winning 21-8 21-16 against world no. 12 Nishimoto, who won the Madrid Spain Masters last Sunday.
If national champion Mithun Manjunath can beat Chinese Taipei’s Chi Yu Jen later in the day, it could turn out to be an all-Indian quarterfinal match.
Rajawat, who was part of India’s victorious Thomas Cup team, started the opening game with a huge 10-0 lead, leaving Nishimoto far behind with just eight points.
After switching sides, the Japanese player moved to a 6-2 lead, but Rajawat caught up and leveled the score at 10-10.
Nishimoto took a one-point lead into the mid-game break, but a burst of six points helped Rajawat take a 16-11 lead.
Nishimoto fought back, but Rajawat managed to stay ahead and win the game.
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In the women’s singles, Tanya Hemanth will face Natsuki Nidaira of Japan, while the doubles pairings of MR Arjun-Dhruv Kapila, Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa, and Sai Pratheek K and Tanisha are also in the competition.