Indonesia Open 2022: HS Prannoy storms into quarterfinals; Sameer, Ashwini-Sikki lose

One of heroes of India's epic Thomas Cup triumph, HS Prany continued his rich vein of form as he stormed into quarterfinals of Indonesia Open Super 1000 tournament with a straight-game win over Hong Kong's Ng Ka Long Angus on Thursday.

29-year-old from Kerala, who is desperately looking to break his five year title drought, dished out ar impressive performance to outwit Ng Long 21-11 21-18 in a second round match that lasted 41 minutes.

It was Prany's fourth win over 27-year-old, who is currently ranked 12th in world.

A former top 10 player, Prany will next face eir Denmark's Rasmus Gemke or France's Brice Leverdez.

Among or Indians in fray, Sameer Verma ended his campaign with a 10-21 13-21 loss to world number five Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in second round.

This was Sameer's fifth loss to Lee in seven meetings.

Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy also bowed out of tournament after losing 16-21 13-21 to top seeds Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan of China in women's doubles competition.

men's doubles pairing of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila also went down 19-21 15-21 to China's Liu Yu Chen and Ou Xuan Yi.

In men's singles contest, it was all Prany in first half of opening game as he simply dominated proceedings, grabbing initiative early to le 11-3 with a sensational cross court jump smash.

Prany was, however, erratic after interval and his unforced errors allowed Ng Long to collect a few points before Indian unleashed ar cross court smash and me some sound judgements at baseline to keep moving ahe.

Prany's movement was smooth as he mixed up shots and varied speed well and with his opponent committing errors, he h issues in closing out match comfortably.

He moved to nine game point opportunities with a precise smash and sealed it when his rival went to net.

Former Commonwealth Games bronze medallist RMV Gurusaidutt's presence at coach's chair also helped Prany as he was seen chatting with player during mid-game interval. Gurusaidutt is on his first assignment with Indian team after retiring from game.

Ng Long gave a better display in second game as his movements improved and he mand to stay on rallies but Prany did well to keep his se ahe at 9-7 with a return on his opponent's back hand corner.

He h a two-point cushion at mid-game interval after Hong Kong player went wide again.

Indian extended his le to 16-11. Ng Long produced occasional winners but he was too erratic, while Prany unleashed ar jump smash to again wriggle out.

In end, a precise return on baseline gave Prany four match points. He squandered two before converting third chance with a booming smash following a superb rally.