P. Kashyap rallied to shock world No. 1 Chen Long, continuing his giant-killing spree to enter the men’s singles semifinals even as Saina Nehwal bowed out with a 16-21, 21-12, 21-18 loss to familiar foe Wang Shixian in the Indonesian Open Super Series badminton tournament here on Friday.

Kashyap, ranked 12th in the world, came from behind to beat the top-seeded Chinese 14-21, 21-17, 21-14 in a contest that lasted an hour and three minutes.

The Commonwealth Games gold-medallist was consistent with his smashes and impeccable with his net play against a more fancied opponent.

Coming into this match, Long had a 7-1 head-to-head record against Kashyap. The No. 1 shuttler over the last two years has emerged as China’s successor to the incomparable Lin Dan. Incidentally, Kashyap’s last victory against Long came in this very tournament in 2012.

In what was a classic David vs Goliath battle, P. Kashyap used all his resources to overcome his rival.

One of the fastest movers and hardest hitters in the world, Chen Long failed to counter Kashyap’s odd, precise smashes and started committing unforced errors.

In the opening game, Kashyap was hardly a match for Long, who not just opened up a 6-2 lead, but consistently moved ahead. Although Kashyap caught up with him on a couple of occasions, the Chinese broke away from a 11-11 position to 16-11, and there was no looking back. Long comfortably sealed the first game 21-14.

The second game went neck-and-neck till 7-7 before the Indian managed to take a slight lead and hold on to the advantage. Even though the experienced Chinese kept breathing down his neck, Kashyap wriggled out of some tricky situations to take the game to a decider. In the third game, Kashyap broke away to take a 9-3 lead, even as Long committed too many unforced errors, hitting wide and long to hand a massive 14-5 lead to the Indian. In the end, it was a cakewalk for Kashyap, who made full use of his opportunities to sail through.