Calgary: Former World No. 2 Kento Momota was pushed hard by No. 12 seed Mark Caljouw of Netherlands in the Canada Open men’s singles third round before sealing a tougher than expected 21-17, 21-18 win on Thursday (local time in Canada).
The match was a see-saw battle between both players. Caljouw refused to bend to the wind of Momota’s smashes and net shots until the very end as Momota eventually knocked out Caljouw in 43 minutes.
Momota will face No. 9 seed Jeon Hyeok Jin of Korea on Friday.
Jeon Hyeok Jin was stretched to the limit by No. 2 seed HS Prannoy of India before winning the three-set thriller 17-21, 21-14, 21-13 to emerge victorious.
HS Prannoy who defeated Olympic silver and gold medalists Lee Chong Wei and Chen Long respectively at Indonesia SSP last June, appeared to run out of steam in the decider, allowing Jeon to win the match in 61 minutes.
There was no shortage of upsets at the Canada Open on Thursday as women’s singles No. 1 seed Zhang Beiwen of USA, squandering 6 match points in the second set, and ultimately handing a 21-16, 22-24, 11-21 victory to her Japanese opponent Saena Kawakami.
Saena Kawakami will play compatriot Haruko Suzuki in the quarter-finals.
