Orleans Masters 2023: Priyanshu Rajawat enters final after defeating Nhat Nguyen

India's Priyanshu Rajawat stormed into the final of the Orleans Masters Super 300 badminton tournament after defeating Ireland's Nhat Nguyen in straight games in the semifinals in France on Saturday. He reached the final for the first time in a Super 300 World Tour event.

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The 21-year-old, who was part of the India team that won the 2022 Thomas Cup, dished out an attacking game to outplay the world number 35 Nguyen 21-12, 21-9 in a lop-sided men's singles semifinals to progress to his maiden final of a super 300 world tour event. He will face either Denmark's Magnus Johannesen or China's Lei Lan Xi in the Orleans Masters final.

Priyanshu Rajawat is known for his attacking game and quick movement on the court. Rajawat, the last remaining Indian challenge at the Orleans Masters has won all his matches in the build-up to the semifinals in straight games, including a rout of top seed Kenta Nishimoto in the pre-quarterfinal. While in the quarterfinals, Priyanshu defeated Chi Yu Jen, handing the Chinese Taipei shuttler a 21-18, 21-18 defeat.

Rajawat used the net brilliantly during the match and troubled Neugen with his return shots. It was a close contest between the two initially. But Rajawat took an 11-9 lead at the break of the first game. After the break, he did not give Nguyen many chances and took a 17-11 lead. Maintaining this lead, he won the first game.

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Rajawat upped in the second game to take a massive 18-3 lead. Nguyen then tried to make a comeback but could not bridge the gap on points. It was one-way traffic in the Indian's favour for the remainder of the match as the Indian youngster wrapped up the affair in quick time.