Kashyap, Prannoy set up US Open title tilt

Anaheim (California): Shuttlers Parupalli Kashyap and H.S. Prannoy made it an all-Indian men’s singles final, while the men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy lost in the semi-finals of the US Open Grand Prix in Anaheim, California.

Second seeded Prannoy on Friday got the better of Vietnamese 15th seed Tien Minh Nguyen 21-14, 21-19 in 40 minutes in the second semi-final.

In the other semi-final, world No. 59 Kashyap overcame South Korea’s Kwang Hee Heo 15-21, 21-15, 21-16 in an hour and six minutes.

Kashyap and World No. 23 Prannoy have only met twice on the international circuit, with each winning once.

The first match-up between them was at the 2010 Indian Grand Prix where Kashyap won. In the next one, at the German Open in 2014, Prannoy triumphed.

Their compatriots Attri and Reddy wasted their opportunity to join them in the finals. The third seeded Indian men’s doubles pair went down fighting against Chinese Taipei’s top-seeded combine of Lu Ching Yao and Yang Po Han. The Chinese Taipei pair won the battle 21-12, 12-21, 22-20 in 54 minutes.

Lu and Yang were to meet South Koreans Seung Jae Seo and Kim Ha Na in the final on Sunday. Seung and Kim eased past Japanese Kohei Gondo and Wakana Nagahara 21-13, 21-13 in 32 minutes.

The women’s singles title will be decided between Canadian sixth seed Michelle Li and Japanese third seed Aya Ohori.