Canada 2024: Rajawat’s strong run ends with loss to French Lanier in semifinals

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.

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

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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 eventually 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.