The Indian challenge came to an end at the Dutch Open junior international tournament as Priyanshu Rajawat lost in the quarter-finals of the men’s singles section at Haarlem on Sunday.
Rajawat went down in straight games to fourth seed Brian Yang of Canada 21-13, 22-20. In the first game, Rajawat was leading 6-5 until Yang won five straight points to pull the score to 10-6. The Indian was completely out-played from that point on as Yang won the last four points to put the game out of Rajawat’s reach.
The second game turned out to be a much tighter affair as Rajawat raced to a 8-5 lead and held a slender advantage at the break, up by two points. Yang hit back but the Indian saved a match point at 20-19 to take the game into over-time.
The Canadian closed out the final two points to win the game and the match, ending India’s challenge at the tournament. Earlier, India’s other singles hopes including Maisnam Meiraba and Gayathry Gopichand had fallen in the Round of 16, while Rajawat had defeated Christo Popov of France.
