Malaysia Open: Muhammad Hafiz Hashim beats H. S. Prannoy in Men’s Singles quarter-final
Malaysia’s veteran player Muhammad Hafiz Hashim showed employed his extensive experience to beat his lower ranked opponent H. S. Prannoy of India in Men’s Singles quarter-final at Malaysia Open GP Gold in Malaysia, on Friday, May 4.
Hafiz, who is currently World Number 33 and sixth seed in Men’s Singles draw of Malaysia Open, showed his impressive class against the spirited Indian and won the fight with a decent score.
The higher ranked Malaysian was everywhere in the court in the quarter-final battle and managed to win it in two games while working for just 33 minutes in the court.
On the other hand, Prannoy could not stretch his winning run in the contest as he failed to match the speed of his higher ranked Malaysian rival and crashed out at the top-eight stage without taking any set.
In the opening rallies of first game, both shuttlers played with precision and matched the speed of each other until the score reached at 8-8.
At this stage, Hafiz changed his tactics and started to dominate the pace of rallies. He became aggressive and set up a decent lead of 11-8 until the one-minute break.
After the mid-game interval, the higher ranked Malaysian continued playing positive badminton while remaining confident in the court.
In the meanwhile, Prannoy tried to employ powerful smashes but failed to break the defence of his Malaysian rival.
Hafiz did not face any trouble from Prannoy in the opening set and took it with a comprehensive margin of 21-14.
In the second game, Prannoy played slightly better badminton as he troubled Hafiz in few rallies in the opening points.
However, the experienced local shuttler took over the control and managed to set up an 11-9 lead until the break.
After the interval, Prannoy played well and managed to take points from all areas of Hafiz by executing well placed smashes.
The Indian levelled the score at the concluding phase of second set by reaching at 16-16.
Both shuttlers reached at 20-20 when Hafiz anticipated the shots of Prannoy and remained successful in taking the game with a 22-20 margin on the board.
Hafiz cheered his home fans by winning this entertaining fight with a decent score of 21-14 and 22-20.
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