New Delhi: Former champions PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth progressed to the second round, while HS Prannoy also made a strong start to his campaign with a hard-fought win at the Yonex-Sunrise India Open here Wednesday.
Sindhu, who reached the finals in the last two editions and won the title in 2017, brushed aside fellow Indian Mugdha Agrey 21-8, 21-13 in women’s singles, while a 2015 winner Srikanth recorded his fourth successive win over Hong Kong’s Wong Wing Ki Vincent with a 21-16, 18-21, 21-19 triumph in men’s singles.
Prannoy also showed good signs of recovering from a gastro-esophageal reflux disease that troubled him last year, notching up a come-from-behind 14-21, 21-18, 21-14 win over Thailand’s eighth seeded Kantaphon Wangcharoen.
Fifth seed Sameer Verma beat Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke 21-18, 21-12, while Riya Mookerjee shocked Thailand’s Phittayaporn Chaiwan 21-17, 21-15 to set up a meeting with Denmark’s eighth seed Mia Blichfeldt, who knocked out Rita Thaker.
Swiss Open finalist B Sai Praneeth recovered from a first-game reversal to outwit compatriot Kartikey Gulshan Kumar 22-24, 21-13, 21-8 to enter the second round.
In doubles, sixth seeds Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy blew away younger countrymen Ravi and Lakshay Saroha 21-14, 21-7.
Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Shivam Sharma, who qualified for the main draw, made short work of Senthil Vel Govindarasu and Vembarasan Venkatachalam 21-13, 21-13.
