Hylo Open: Unnati shocks 4th seed Ti Lin; enters SFs

Indian shuttlers had mixed fortunes at the Hylo Open on Friday with rising star Unnati Hooda progressing to the semi-finals but both Lakshya Sen and Ayush Shetty saw their campaigns end with defeat in men’s singles quarterfinals.
Unnati, ranked 34 in the world, humbled fourth seed Hsiang Ti Lin of Chinese Taipei, placed 10 places above the Indian, 22-20 21-13 in 47 minutes.
The Indian thus avenged her Malaysia Masters defeat to the same rival in May this year. She will now be up against either top-seed Indonesian Putri Kusuma Wardani or Azerbaijan’s Keisha Fatimah Azzahra, who are clashing in the other quarterfinal.
In the men’s singles, up against French fourth seed Alex Lanier, Sen bounced back after losing the opening game but eventually fell 17-21 21-14 15-21 after battling hard for one hour and 14 minutes.
It was Sen’s second defeat against Lanier this season, having lost to the French player in Denmark Open quarterfinals earlier this month. On the contrary, Shetty surged ahead in his quarterfinal against Finland’s Kalle Koljonen but could not sustain the momentum to lose 21-19 12-21 20-22 in a gripping contest that lasted 68 minutes.