India Open 2024: HS Prannoy enters second round with thrilling win

India's top shuttler and eighth seed HS Prannoy made a brilliant start to his campaign at the India Open Super 750 badminton tournament at the KD Jadhav Indoor hall in New Delhi on Tuesday by defeating Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei in straight games to reach the second round of men's singles in a thrilling match.

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World Championship and Asian Games bronze medalist Prannoy defeated world number 13 Tien Chen 21-6, 21-19 in 42 minutes. In the next round of the India Open 2024, world number eight Prannoy will face the winner of the match between Lakshya Sen and Priyanshu Rajawat.

Tien Chen did not appear to be in any rhythm against world number eight Prannoy. He made a lot of simple mistakes and failed to adjust to the court and left the shuttle falling inside the court several times. Apart from this, the player from Chinese Taipei also hit many shots on the net. Tien Chen had no answer to the speed and accurate shot of the Indian player.

On the other hand, Prannoy made a great start to the match and took advantage of Tien Chen's mistakes at the score of 2-1 with eight consecutive points to take a 10-1 lead. The Indian player was leading 11-2 at the break. Prannoy increased the lead to 13-2 and then extended it to 16-4.

After that, the Indian player scored 14 game points at 20-6 and then came to the net to score points and win the first game easily. In the second game, Tien Chen won the first two points but Prannoy took four consecutive points to lead 4-2, including two from a cross-court smash.

Even in the second game, however, Tien Chen continued to repeat the mistakes of the first game. Despite this, he was successful in giving a good fight to Pranay. He took a 7-6 lead with a cross-court smash and managed to take an 11-7 lead at the break with four consecutive points. After this, Prannoy entangled some shots at the net and hit some outside, due to which Tien Chen went ahead 14-8. The Indian player made the score 11-14 with three consecutive points.

Meanwhile, Prannoy regained the momentum at the right time and took the lead of 17-16 with six consecutive points on the score of 11-16. Prannoy got a match point at 20-19 and Tien Chen put the match in the hands of the Indian player with a shot at the net.

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Later in the day, it will be an all-Indian second-round clash with Lakshya Sen and Priyanshu Rajawat set to face off in their India Open opening match.