Mülheim An Der Ruhr: March 11 (IANS) India suffered a setback at the German Open BWF World Tour Super 300 event when Lakshya Sen remained the only Indian in the men’s singles after Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy crashed out in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Sen defeated compatriot Prannoy in straight games 21-15, 22-20 to reach the semi-finals, while Srikanth fell to reigning Olympic champion and top seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark 10-21, 21-23 after giving a tough fight in the second game
In the first game, Prannoy took the lead before Sen caught up with him at 10-10. Sen held the lead until 13-11 before opening up an 18-13 lead before sealing victory at 21-15.
Prannoy jumped out to a 3-0 lead before Sen caught up with him again at 3-3. The scores went neck-and-neck from there to 10-10 before six straight points to 18-12. Prannoy tried to fight back again, but Sen kept the lead and won the second game and match in 38 minutes.
Sen will now face Axelsen in the men’s singles semi-finals after the Dane outclassed Srikanth.
World Cup silver medalist Srikanth found things difficult against Axelsen as the Dane controlled proceedings. He took an early lead in the first game and won it 21-10. In the second game.
Srikanth took an early lead and although Axelsen caught up with him, the scores were even after that as both players tried to take control. Srikanth enjoyed a slight lead midway through the game, but his hopes of taking the match to the decider did not materialize as Axelsen picked up two points to win 23-21 in 35 minutes.