Canada Open: Rajawat loses in semifinals

Calgary: India’s campaign at the Canada Open Super 500 badminton tournament ended after Priyanshu Rajawat suffered a straight-game loss to France’s Alex Lanier in the men’s singles semifinals here on Saturday.

World No. 39 Rajawat went down 17-21, 10-21 to Lanier, ranked 37th, in 45 minutes at the Markin MacPhail Centre.

The Indian had defeated Lanier at the Madrid Spain Masters qualification round last year in their only meeting.

Rajawat, who had stunned Anders Antonsen of Denmark in the quarterfinals, made a positive start, opening up a 3-0 early lead but Lanier was quick to establish a 7-4 lead.

The two fought hard and Rajawat did grab the lead a few times but he couldn’t sustain the pressure on his opponent, who reeled off five straight points at 15-16 to close out the opening game.

Rajawat’s game completely fell apart after the change of sides as Lanier zoomed to 8-2 and then 14-3, which proved decisive as the French shut the door on the Indian.