Sydney: Newly-crowned Indonesia Open champion Kidambi Srikanth and defending champions Saina Nehwal progressed to the second round with contrasting wins at the Australian Super Series badminton tournament here Wednesday.
PV Sindhu and Singapore Open champion B Sai Praneeth also entered the second round but it was curtains for four other singles player, including giant-slayer HS Prannoy.
Srikanth continued his good form by defeating Chinese Taipei’s Kan Chao Yu 21-13, 21-16 in the men’s singles opening round while Praneeth had to sweat it out to register a hard-fought 10-21, 21-12, 21-10 win over Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto.
In women’s singles, Saina was up against a tough opponent in fourth seed Sung Ji Hyun of Korea but she showed her class with a fluent 21-10, 21-16 victory. “Matches of this type certainly give me a lot of confidence,” she said after her match.
Sindhu saw off Indonesia Super Series Premier champion Sayaka Sato of Japan 21-17, 14-21, 21-18 in a match that lasted 65 minutes. She will meet China’s Chen Xiaoxin who beat Ruthvika Shivani Gadde 17-21, 21-12, 12-21 to Chen.
The women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy defeated Australia’s Hsuan-Yu Wendy Chen and Jennifer Tam 21-11, 21-13 to reach the second round. However, the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost to the Hong Kong combo of Law Cheuk Him and Lee Chun Hei Reginald 20-22, 21-19, 21-11.
In men’s singles, Prannoy, Ajay Jayaram, Parupalli Kashyap and Siril Verma lost their first round matches.
Jayaram fought hard before losing 14-21, 21-10, 21-9 to seventh seed Ng Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong while Kashyap went down to World No.1 Son Wan Ho of Korea 21-18, 14-21, 21-15.
Verma was shown the door by Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus of Denmark 16-21, 8-21 while Prannoy lost 19-21 13-21 against Rajiv Ouseph of England.
In other matches, the men’s doubles duo of Francis Alwin and Tarun Kona lost 17-21, 15-21 to the Indonesian-Malaysia combo of Hendra Setiawan and Boon Heong Tan while Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy were knocked out 20-22, 6-21 by third seeds Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda of Japan.
Results at a glance
Kidambi Srikanth bt Kan Chao Yu 21-13, 21-16
B Sai Praneeth bt Tommy Sugiarto 10-21, 21-12, 21-10
Saina Nehwal bt Sung Ji Hyun 21-10, 21-16
PV Sindhu bt Sayaka Sato 21-17, 14-21, 21-18
HS Prannoy lost to Rajiv Ouseph 19-21, 13-21
Praupalli Kashyap lost to Son Wan Ho 21-18, 14-21, 21-15
Ajay Jayaram lost to Long Angus 21-14, 10-21, 21-9
Press Trust of India
