India's HS Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth both upset top 10 players in their respective matches to enter the quarterfinals of men's singles at the Indonesia Open on Thursday. There was disappointment for India in the women's singles though, with Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu both exiting at the pre-quarters. Saina lost 15-21, 21-6, 16-21 to Nitchaon Jindapol, while Sindhu went down 21-15, 12-21, 18-21 against Beiwen Zhang.
Prannoy caused the bigger upset by beating world No. 3 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia 21-10, 21-18 in 40 minutes. The Indian player, ranked No. 29 in the world, was quick off the blocks and raced to a 6-0 lead in the first game. He went into the first break with a five-point cushion. Lee continued to make errors and struggled to get into rhythm after that too and lost the first game in just 14 minutes.
Prannoy first took the lead in the second game at 5-4. From there, the players exchanged points at regular intervals but the Indian was 11-8 ahead at the changeover. Prannoy shot wide at 12-11 to allow Lee to level the score. He then committed an error at the net to hand Lee the lead. The players were tied at 17-17. But Prannoy inched ahead from there and closed out the game in 26 minutes.
With the win, Prannoy became the first Indian to beat both Lee and two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan of China on the international circuit. He also became only the second player from India -- after B Sai Praneeth -- to beat Lee.
In the quarters, Prannoy will meet the winner of the match between China's Chen Long and Jonatan Christie of Indonesia.
Earlier in the day, Srikanth beat World No. 9 Jan O Jorgensen 21-15, 20-22, 21-16 in 57 minutes, to take a 3-2 head-to-head lead against the Dane.
In the first game, there was little to separate the players, neither of whom managed to win consecutive points until 7-7. Jorgensen then won two straight points to go up 9-7 before world No. 14 Srikanth fought back to make it 9-9, the Indian leading 11-10 at the changeover. After the break, the Indian won three straight points to pull ahead at 15-11. Although the Dane fought back with a three-point burst of his own, Srikanth managed to stay ahead, winning four consecutive points from 17-15 to take the opening game.
The second game began in virtually the same fashion as the first, but this time it was Jorgensen who went into the changeover leading 11-10 and surged ahead afterwards. Srikanth did well to limit Jorgensen's lead, even saving two game points down 20-18, but Jorgensen brought up a third game point and converted it to force a deciding game.
Jorgensen went on a five-point burst to begin the third game, before Srikanth fought back by winning six consecutive points of his own, then surging ahead from 9-7 to lead 11-8 at the changeover. The Indian then won four straight to lead 15-11 and didn't relinquish his lead. Srikanth had to endure a few nervous moments, seeing three of his six match points before converting on the fourth.
He will meet world No. 19 Tzu Wei Wang of Taiwan next.
Srikanth, the first Indian to win a Superseries and Superseries Premier title, is attempting to recapture his best form since returning to action in January after sustaining an ankle injury at the Rio Olympics. His best finish this year was a runner-up finish to compatriot B Sai Praneeth at the Singapore Open.