Viktor Axelsen sure got rattled by the tactical gameplay of HS Prannoy, but didn’t let it mess with his defense, as he won the Japan Open quarterfinals from a set down. Showing superior physical fitness, he bossed the third against a progressively tiring Prannoy to win 19-21, 21-18, 21-8 in 76 long minutes. But for the whole length of the first two sets, for close to 54 minutes till he levelled the match, Prannoy had Axelsen under pressure.
The danger posed by Prannoy’s game was evident as early as 7-9 in the opener; after a couple of smashes that went wide from both players, Prannoy asserted his intent with a disguised backhand at the net. It looked like he was prepping to go cross, but the stroke went straight, and Axelsen was going the other way. The World No.1 Dane had the lead at 12-17 with a straight smash and follow up, but Prannoy would increase his pace of hitting thereafter.
Engaging the Olympic champion at the net in the flat drive game with precise placement, Prannoy forced a net error at 17-all.
It was a risk because Axelsen had cross net winners and a better exchange in an eyeball-to-eyeball net rally to go 17-19 up, but the heightened pace was clearly pushing him out of his comfort zone.
Axelsen would smash wide after a fast rally for 18-19, and a backhand cross after an intense rally would level matters 19-19.
Prannoy would next turn the racquet head at the last moment at the net to go 20-19 up and win the opener with a backhand lob that landed inside the corner for a 21-19 formidable start.
Lifts to the backline from that side of the court were all falling in due to the slowing drift, and the Indian took full advantage to put the Dane under the pump.
The second set saw Axelsen unravel for a few heated minutes, as the Indian’s lead rose to 7-1, and Axelsen was either hitting wide or into the net.
As the lead went to 9-5, Prannoy was making the tall Axelsen bend in defense, working both the flanks and making him smash wide, picking everything thrown at the Indian. Prannoy was attacking relentlessly to the back court with steep shots, and then catching the Dane at the net to keep a four point lead at 14-10.
However at 15-12 came a defining moment, when during the prolonging rally, both players hesitated to go for the shot hit to their backline; Prannoy retrieved his at the very last moment, Axelsen botched his. It was the first signs of tiredness setting in, though that would diminish the Indian’s reserves faster than the Dane’s.
At 15-15, Axelsen yo-yoed Prannoy to both the flanks, and then the Indian dumped one into the net to fall back 15-16 for the first time in the set. It’s here that Axelsen exploded after his service was deemed too high to go to 16-16. Frustrated that his comeback was being stubbed, he would rage, rave and rant thereafter at the Indian coaching chair, saying “Why are you talking when I’m serving?” To his credit though, his low defense against Prannoy’s smashes held steady. He would dump the last of his errors in the net at 17-all, but score an on-the-line winner at 17-19. In the longest rally that ensued, Prannoy ended up hitting wide, and Axelsen squared the set score to 21-18 in the second when Prannoy hit into the net.
The World No.10 Indian’s best chances were in wrapping this up in two, because as the rallies got longer, his limbs were tiring. Axelsen, with his racquet parallel to the ground and across his body, was picking every Prannoy smash. His sheer defense gave him 7 straight points from trailing 4-5 to leading 11-5. The Indian was a spent force by then, and the Dane raced to 17-7 with an accurate smash, and 21-8 as he finally stubbed out the resistance in 22 minutes of the third.
Lakshya downs Watanabe, to play Christie
Shorn of all this drama was the other quarterfinal featuring the other Indian Lakshya Sen. Playing World No.33 Koki Watanabe, the World No. 12 hit cross drives and round the head smashes to lead from start to finish in the 21-15 opener.
Watanabe started retrieving much more and ran up 4-9, 9-15 and 12-16 leads to sniff a decider.
However it was at the 15-point mark that Sen drew Watanabe to the net, and was clearly the better player from the forecourt. Sen would smash out for 18-19, but Watanabe would dump the next into the net for 19-all. Sen injected pace into the next rally, and finished with a straight smash, though it was a defensive block which ended up a winner giving him the match 21-15, 21-19 in 46 minutes.
Sen takes on regular Top 5 shuttler and reigning Asian Games champion Jonatan Christie in the semifinals next. Christie is known for his accuracy to the back court and his resilient retrieving, and he beat Sen at the start of the year in three sets at the Indonesian Masters. Sen last beat him at the Badminton Asia Team Championship just before the first pandemic lockdown in 2020, but the Indian is in red hot form making his third semifinal of the month.
The danger posed by Prannoy's game was evident as early as 7-9 in the opener; after a couple of smashes that went wide from both players, Prannoy asserted his intent with a disguised backhand at the net. (File) 
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