A fighting HS Prannoy edged out Japan's Kanta Tsuneyama to progress to the semifinals but two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu couldn't find a way to get past her nemesis Tai Tzu Ying at the Malaysia Masters Super 500 tournament here on Friday.
Prannoy, a former top 10 player, continued his consistent run and weathered the storm against world number 14 Tsuneyama to emerge victories 25-23, 22-20 in the 60-minute quarterfinal clash, which ebbed and flowed throughout.
One of the heroes of India's monumental Thomas Cup win in May, Prannoy will face Hong Kong's NG Ka Long Angus, seeded 8th, in the last four.
A week after being outwitted by Tai Tzu Ying at Malaysia Open, seventh seed Sindhu once again fell short against the world No 2 Taiwanese, losing 13-21, 21-12, 12-21 in a 55-minute contest.
It was Sindhu's 17th career defeat to the Tokyo Olympics Silver medallist, who has prevailed over the Indian in all their last seven meetings. The last time Sindhu had defeated Tzu Ying was en route to her 2019 World Championship Gold in Basel, Switzerland.
The men's singles contest turned out to be a game of cat and mouse as the two highly-skilled players engaged in a battle of one-upmanship, with Prannoy showing better nerves as he saved game points twice to come up trumps against Tsuneyama.
In the women's competition, it was business as usual for Tzu Ying as she rode her precision and deceptive game to get past Sindhu, who once again flattered to deceive.