Changzhou: B Sai Praneeth suffered a three-game loss to World No.9 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in the quarterfinals to draw curtains on India’s campaign at the China Open World Tour Super 1000 badminton tournament here Friday.
Almost a month after dispatching the Indonesian en route his historic World Championships bronze at Basel, World No.15 B sai Praneeth went down to the same opponent 21-16, 6-21, 16-21 in 55 minutes to end his campaign here.
Ginting will now take on eighth seeded Denmark’s Anders Antonsen, who had clinched the silver at the World Championships.
B Sai Praneeth, who had reached the finals of Swiss Open early this year, came into the match with a 3-2 advantage in the head-to-head count against Ginting but he ran out of steam after winning the opening game.
Praneeth opened up a 3-0 lead early on in the first and then kept widening the gap, reaching 11-3 at the break. Ginting tried to make a comeback and was 11-14 at one stage but the Indian ensured there were no hiccups as he pocketed the opening game comfortably.
In the second game, Ginting galloped to a 9-4 lead after grabbing six straight points and entered the interval with a cushion of 11-5 against B Sai Praneeth.
The Indonesian continued to rule the roost after the break, jumping to a massive 18-6 lead and soon roared back into the contest.
The decider was a close affair as Praneeth erased a 2-6 deficit to catch up with Ginting and was ahead 11-7 at the breather. A fighting Ginting, however, turned the tables after reeling off six points on the trot to reach 13-12.
The Indonesian kept his hold on the proceedings after that to grab four match points and converted it easily to enter the semifinals.
PTI
