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India’s Sai Praneeth continued his impressive recent form, after defeating Christian Thomsen of Denmark in three games, 13-21 21-9 21-10 in 48 minutes to move into the third round of the US Open Grand Prix Gold.
Game 1 began on an even note with both players winning 2 of the first 4 points, but it was Sai Praneeth who took the lead, winning the next 3 points to take a 5-2 lead. But Thomsen, fought back terrifically to first level the scores by winning the next 3 points and then taking the lead by winning 2 more points to make it 7-5 in his favour.
The next few points proved to be equal for both, but Thomsen took the first leap in winning the game when he first, won 3 points on the trot to take an 11-7 lead and then further piled up the pressure by winning 3 more points at a stretch, to go 15-9 up.
That surge in points, in the end, proved enough and he took the game 21-13 in his favour.
The second game saw Sai begin in a fantastic fashion as he raced away to 7-1 lead and then further continued his dominance by winning 8 points consecutively to go from 7-3 up to 15-3 up. If that incredible succession of points was enough, he won 4 out of the 5 points to go 19-4 up and eventually sealed with 2 more consecutive points in the end that made it 21-9 in his favour to make a stunning comeback into the match.
When an opponent loses a game in such a lopsided manner, almost half his confidence is buried there itself and the crushing manner in which Thomsen lost the second game, was evident in the way he played in the third, when Sai once again began in excellent fashion, taking an early 3-0 lead and then continuing to dominate proceedings, giving absolutely no opening to his opponent and eventually sealing the game 21-10 and progressing through to the next round.
Sai’s opponent in the third round will be Huang Yuxiang of China.
Final Scoreline- Sai Praneeth beat Christian Thomsen 13-21 21-9 21-10
