Ace Indian shuttler HS Prannoy failed to continue his rich vein of form as he crashed out of the ongoing New Zealand Open after going down against fifth-seed Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan in the quarter-finals of the tournament on Friday.
After comfortably winning the first game, the 26-year-old from New Delhi failed to capitalise on it and slumped to a 21-17, 15-21, 14-21 defeat at the hands of the world number 11 Japanese shuttler in a last-eight clash of the men's singles event that lasted an hour and 13 minutes.
The first game was a cut-to-cut affair, with Prannoy and Tsuneyama being tied till the first 13 points before the Indian shuttler staged a strong performance to grab straight four points. Though the Japanese star rebounded to reduce the gap to 17-18, Prannoy sealed three straight points to clinch the first game.
In the second game, Prannoy started off strongly by taking an early 11-5 lead before he committed many unforced errors to eventually hand the game to Tsuneyama.
Meanwhile, the decider was a hard-fought battle with both the shuttlers tied at 14-14 before the Japanese held his game and seal seven points on the trot to emerge out victorious.
With Prannoy's exit, India's campaign at New Zealand Open has also folded.
Tsuneyama, on the other hand, will look to seal a spot in the summit showdown of the tournament when he faces third seed and Jakarta Asian Games gold medallist Jonathan Christie in the semi-final.
