Rajawat in Orleans semi-finals

ORLEANS (FRANCE): India’s Priyanshu Rajawat continued his brilliant run at the Orleans Masters Super 300, storming into the semi-finals with a straight-game victory against Chinese Taipei’s Chi Yu Jen here on Friday.

Rajawat, who had stunned top seed Kenta Nishimoto of Japan in the second round, defeated Chi Yu Jen 21-18, 21-18 in a 44-minute quarter-final clash. Rajawat will next face Nhat Nguyen of Ireland as the Vietnam-born received a walkover from Israel’s Misha Zilberman.

Rajawat, currently 58th in the world rankings, played aggressively and kept the Chinese Taipei player on his toes throughout. After the score was level at nine-all in the first game, Rajawat clinched four points in a row to go 13-9 up. While Chi made a brief comeback, the Indian won the opener after leading 16-15 at one stage.

In the second game, the Chinese Taipei player took an early lead but Rajawat caught up with him at 7-7 and then again at 10-all. Rajawat opened up a three-point gap at 13-10 and extended it to four at 17-13 before sealing victory.