Indian tennis ace B. Sai Praneeth suffered a major blow as he crashed out of the ongoing Australian Open after going down in straight games to Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong in the quarter-finals here on Friday.
The 25-year-old failed to capitalize on his good performance in the tournament so far and slumped to a shocking 21-23, 13-21 defeat against seventh-seed Cheuk Yiu in a thrilling clash of the men's singles event that lasted 43 minutes.
Earlier, Praneeth eased past Panji Ahmad Maulana of Indonesia 21-12, 21-14 to book his place in the last-eight of the tournament.
In another quarter-final clash, fourth-seed Sameer Verma also bowed out of the tournament after suffering a 14-21, 6-21 defeat against China's Lu Guangzu in 34 minutes.
Meanwhile, the Indian duo of Manu Attri and B.Sumeeth Reddy confirmed their place in the semi-finals of the men's doubles event after registering win in a three-game thriller against fellow countrymen Arjun M.R. Ramchandran Shlok.
Attri and Reddy rebounded strongly from a game down to clinch a 17-21,21-19,21-18 win over Arjun and Ramachandran in 51 minutes in their quarter-final clash.
Attri and Reddi will now square off with the Indonesian team of Berry Angriawan and Hardianto Hardianto for a place in the summit showdown.
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