He beats Denmark’s Magnus Johannesen in final
Orleans: India’s Priyanshu Rajawat capped off an impressive week with a thrilling win in the final against Denmark’s Magnus Johannesen to claim the men’s singles title at the Orleans Masters here on Sunday.
The Madhya Pradesh shuttler, who was part of the Indian team that registered an epic win at the 2022 Thomas Cup, saw off world number 49 Johannesen 21-15 19-21 21-16 in a 68-minute summit clash to grab the biggest title of his career.
The two shuttlers, making it to the final after coming through the qualifiers, dished out some superb badminton, but the Indian rode on his ability to produce winners to secure the world tour super 300 crown.
It was the first meeting between the two 21-year-olds, both looking for a breakthrough win but Rajawat, who didn’t drop a game in the $ 240,000 tournament, showed his maturity as he dished out a controlled aggressive game to come up trumps.
The image of an airborne Rajawat unleashing a forehand crosscourt jump smash to trouble his opponent will be etched in the mind of the spectators, as he accumulated multiple points with this trademark shot.
A year ago, Rajawat had returned early from Orleans when it was a super 100 event, but the tournament was upgraded to super 300 from this year, and the Indian made the most of the opportunity.
Rajawat, who picked up the sport as a six-year-old, dished out his range of strokes to move to 6-5 with two aggressive returns on the left-handed Dane’s backhand. A backhand smash and another winner saw him lead 11-8 at the interval.
The Indian showed great anticipation, which allowed him to get into position early and bring down the shuttle with a thwack. Two cross-court smashes helped the Indian create a yawning gap at 18-11, which the Dane couldn’t bridge.
After the change of sides, Johannesen strengthened his defence while Rajawat botched up some of his shots to allow the Dane lead 6-3 as he went into the break with a three-point cushion this time.
Rajawat fell into a pool of errors to allow the Dane increase the gap to 14-9. He clawed back at 17-15, producing some accurate winners but Johannesen jumped to three game points.
The Indian saved two before conceding one at the net as the Dane took the match to the decider.
In the third game, Rajawat zoomed to 7-2 after producing a series of winners but Johannesen narrowed it down to 7-8 after winning an incredible 54-shot rally. The Dane drew parity at 9-9 but the Indian managed to gain a small two-point cushion after producing two winners.
After the final changeover, Rajawat got a second wind as he extended his lead to four points after winning another superb rally. He kept the rallies in his firm grip and soon grabbed seven championship points with another cross-court smash.
He converted on his fourth attempt and lifted his hand in celebration.