HS Prannoy, Ayush Shetty, and Kidambi Srikanth all made significant strides in the Orleans Masters 2025 badminton tournament on Wednesday, with Shetty causing the biggest shock of the day.
Prannoy, who returned to the BWF World Tour after a brief break, defeated Chinese Taipei’s Wang Tzu-wei 21-11, 20-22, 21-9 in his opening match. The match lasted one hour and nine minutes, and this victory marked his seventh win in nine meetings against the 24th-ranked Wang. Prannoy will now face Lin Chun-yi of Chinese Taipei, the tournament’s second seed, in what promises to be a much tougher test.
Meanwhile, 48th-ranked Ayush Shetty stunned the badminton world by defeating former world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore. Shetty triumphed 21-17, 21-9 in just 36 minutes, sending the third-seeded Yew out of the tournament. Shetty’s next challenge will come against Hong Kong’s Jason Gunawan in the pre-quarterfinals.
In another impressive performance, former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth advanced to the next round with a 21-19, 21-14 victory over Japan’s Koo Takahashi. Srikanth took just 40 minutes to seal the win and will face top seed Lee Zii Jia in his next match, a showdown with the world No. 8 and another former world champion.
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