HS Prannoy vs Kazumasa Sakai, Live Badminton Score and Updates, Hong Kong Open Superseries 2017 Round 2

Sakai def Prannoy, 11-21, 21-10, 21-15 to enter the quarter-finals

Updated: 23 November 2017 17:10 IST - Published: 23 November 2017 15:55 IST

Saina Nehwal will be in action later in the day. We'll be bringing you live coverage of her match.

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Sakai continues to be a bad match-up for Prannoy. Saved 5 match points to deny Prannoy his 1st Superseries final at Indonesia. Now denies him Dubai spot!

That is Sakai's third win in a row over Prannoy in as many matches! And with this loss, Prannoy's Dubai hopes are over!

Final score: Sakai def Prannoy, 11-21, 21-10, 21-15 in 54 minutes to enter the quarter-finals.

Sakai gets it done at 21-15

Sakai has FIVE MATCH POINTS now at 20-15

Prannoy gets a point again only to make it 15-18

He is not able to hold on to the little chances he is getting.

Sakai goes up to 17-13

16-12 lead for the Japanese now

Prannoy's attacking game shows up and it lets him take 2 points in a row.

Trails 11-13

It's 13-9 now for Sakai.

Time running out for the Indian

Prannoy pulls one back and makes it 9-11

It's an 11-8 advantage for the Japanese heading into the interval.

Sakai goes up to 10-8

And it's a one-point difference now with Sakai ahead at 9-8

Prannoy grabs a couple of points to reduce the deficit to two points

7-9

Prannoy trails 5-9 now

Prannoy will be out of the race for the Dubai World Superseries Finals if he loses this match. A lot at stake for the World No. 10

Can he find an extra gear?

It's an 8-4 advantage for the Japanese now

Prannoy trailing 3-6 now

A long rally ends in favour of the Japanese.

5-2

Prannoy pulled back two points but Sakai inches ahead to 4-2

THIRD GAME

Sakai opens up a 3-0 lead

It's a tough task for Prannoy. He has never won a match against Sakai in their past two encounters.

Can he do it for the first time?

Sakai wraps up the second game, 21-10

Sakai surges to 18-9 now

Clearly, the change of ends has favoured the Japanese.

It's 17-8 in favour of Sakai now

Sakai leads by a whopping EIGHT POINTS now.

14-6

Just what Prannoy did to him in the first game.

Sakai leads 12-6 now

Prannoy currently very much the underdog

Sakai has an 11-6 advantage going into the interval.

Two fast and quick points grabbed by the Japanese.

He is up 10-6

Sakai holds on to his lead of two points over the Indian.

8-6

Sakai stops his comeback to soar to a 7-5 lead

And makes it 5-6

He is trying exactly that.

Pulls back one point for 4-6

It's 6-3 for the Japanese.

Can Prannoy erase the deficit and storm back?

Sakai maintains his two-point lead

Up 4-2

Sakai jumps to a 3-1 lead

SECOND GAME

First point to Sakai

Sakai saved one but Prannoy made use of the very next point to take the game, 21-11.

Prannoy has TEN game points now.

20-10

19-10

Prannoy now 2 points away from taking this game

It's 17-10 for the Indian

Prannoy finally stops his march and goes up further to 16-9

And the Japanese adds a couple more to make it 9-15.

Sakai trying to fight back and gets three points on the trot.

He still trails by a big margin, 7-15

And he extends it to 10 points!

14-4

Nine-point advantage for the Indian

13-4

After the break, Prannoy is up 12-3