Third seed Sai Praneeth takes on Kantaphon Wangcharoen in the Men's singles quarter-final of 2017 Thailand Open in Bangkok on Friday.
Praneeth is heading into the tie after decimating Malaysian number two Iskandar Zulkarnain 21-13, 21-18 in just 41 minutes on Thursday. On the other hand, Wangcharoen, the world number 102, eased into the quarter-final following his 21-19, 21-8 win over higher-ranked Wei Feng Chong in his R16 encounter yesterday.
Praneeth won his maiden Superseries title in Singapore last month and the 24-year-old Indian shuttler has carried his form into the ongoing tournament successfully. He has not dropped a set yet, with comfortable wins over Nathaniel Sulistyo, Satheishtharan and Zulkarnain and has reached his third quarter-final in the ongoing season.
The world number 24 will start as favourite to reach the semi-final in the ongoing tournament, but he is likely to face a tricky test against the Thai teenager, who has been steadily rising through the ranks in Men's singles circuit. Wangcharoen's biggest career milestone came when he raced to the final of Thailand Masters earlier this year, beating the likes of Lee Zii Jia before failing against Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia.
Despite starting the quarter-final tie as the underdog, Wangcharoen can take inspiration from his win over India's national badminton champion Sameer Verma at the same last year while he faces the latter's compatriot today.
