China Open 2019: Kashyap, Praneeth knocked out

Parupalli Kashyap, ran out of steam after a decent start against seventh seed Axelsen and went down 13-21, 19-21 in the men’s singles second-round.

Parupalli Kashyap exited after conceding his second round match to Victor Axelsen.

Indian shuttlers Parupalli Kashyap and Sai Praneeth were both ousted in the second round of the men’s singles event at the China Open here on Thursday.

Praneeth fought hard for one hour 24 minutes against fourth seed Anders Antonsen of Denmark. The world No. 11 Indian went down 20-22, 22-20, 21-16.

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Earlier Kashyap, ranked 25 in the world, ran out of steam after a decent start against seventh seed Victor Axelsen and went down 13-21, 19-21 in a match that lasted 43 minutes. Praneeth’s loss marked the end of India’s singles campaign.

This is the second time Kashyap has lost to Axelsen this year. The former Commonwealth Games champion Kashyap, who reached the semifinals at India Open and Korea Open earlier this year, had lost to the world No. 6 at the India Open in March.

It was the end of the road for the mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa, too. The unseeded Indian duo lost 21-23, 16-21 to the fifth seed South Korean combine of Seo Seung Jae and Chae Yujung.

Purple patch

India’s men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stunned sixth seed Hiroyuki Endo and Yuta Watanabe of Japan to enter the quarterfinals.

Rankireddy and Shetty got the better of their Japanese opponents 21-18, 21-23, 21-11 in a pulsating second round contest that lasted an hour and six minutes.

For Rankireddy and Shetty, who had reached the French Open final last month, the latest win is their second straight over Endo and Watanabe. The Indians had defeated the Japanese duo in straight games in Paris last month.

Rankireddy and Shetty will face Li Jun Hui and Liu Yu Chen of China in the quarterfinals on Friday.