Kuala Lumpur: Star Indian shuttler H S Prannoy dished out another splendid show to progress to the men's singles quarterfinals with a thrilling win over Indonesia's Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo in the Malaysia Open Super 750 tournament here on Thursday.
The World No. 8 looked in fine fettle as he staved off the spirited challenge from world No. 19 Chico 21-9, 15-21, 21-16 in an hour and four minutes.
The 30-year-old from Kerala will take on Japan's Kodai Naraoka next.
Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand fought hard before going down 13-21, 21-15, 17-21 to Bulgaria's Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva in the women's doubles pre-quarterfinals.
For Prannoy, it was his second meeting with Chico, who had defeated him at the 2018 Syed Modi International.
In the form of his life, Prannoy made a good start, showing better control and his attack also earned him dividends as he led 7-5 before grabbing a 11-5 cushion at the interval.
With Chico struggling with the drifty conditions, Prannoy ran away with the opening game.
After the change of ends, Chico showed better control as he eked out a 6-2 lead following a net exchange with his opponent. The Indonesian seemed to attack more and soon moved to an 11-5 lead at the interval.
Both players looked to push each other in the rallies but Prannoy made errors in his finishing as Chico marched to 17-11 with a reverse slice.
The Indonesian soon roared back into contest after levelling the match.
In the decider, Prannoy was all fired up as he landed some precise returns on the lines to move to 5-2. He managed to keep his rival moving to and fro with his angled returns, extracting errors to take a handsome five-point lead at the break.
Prannoy was spot on with his shot selection, landing his straight and cross court smashes away from his diving opponent to accumulate points.
Chico played some lovely shots but he was inconsistent during the rallies as Prannoy established his five-point advantage at 17-12 . Another razor sharp straight jump smash followed by another shot at the backline gave Prannoy six match points.
The Indonesian saved two before sending one to the net as Prannoy celebrated.
