[Watch] Australia Open Badminton 2023: Exceptional rally between Prannoy and Rajawat leaves fans stunned
The Australia Open semifinals featured one thrilling match after another. Amidst all the fantabulous badminton action, Indian badminton fans zeroed in on the second men's singles semifinals.
This was the match where HS Prannoy and Priyanshu Rajawat battled each other and tried to book a spot in the Australia Open finals. The match was off to a strong start, with Prannoy relying on his signature smashes while Priyanshu brought out his best net play.
The first game went down to the wire, with Prannoy swooping in with the gift of experience at the last minute to clinch the game 21-18.
Prannoy kept his momentum going from the very beginning of the second game. He kept unforced errors to a minimum and pushed Rajawat to the limit. While the young Indian did everything in his power to try and fight back, it simply wasn't meant to be. After a few risky strokes from Rajawat that didn't find their mark, Prannoy won the second game 21-12.
Catch this rally from the bwf.official that captures the essence of the match perfectly:
HS Prannoy sticks to his classic and reliable downward strokes, while Priyanshu infuses a bit of style into his game.
With a fortune behind-the-back defense and an uncharacteristic error from Prannoy's end, Rajawat takes a lucky point in the first game.
HS Prannoy enters the 2023 Australia Open finals
With this dominant victory over his junior, Prannoy has entered his second final of the year. He will be squaring up against China's Weng Hong Yang, who incidentally happens to be his opponent from his first finals of the year.
When Prannoy and Yang faced each other at the Malaysia Masters in May, the Indian claimed a hard fought victory over his opponent. The match lasted for a grueling 90 minutes, with Prannoy taking home the title 21-19, 13-21, 21-18.
Indian fans will be waiting avidly for the Australia Open's men's singles finals tomorrow, in hopes of witnessing a repeat of the Malaysia Masters match.