Odense: World No.6 Kidambi Srikanth set up a second-round clash with the legendary Lin Dan after an easy win over Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus even as one Indian women’s doubles pair was knocked out of the Denmark Open, here Wednesday.
Srikanth needed 35 minutes to get the better of local hope Vittinghus 21-16, 21-10 in the opening round of the USD 7,75,000 tournament.
Srikanth has lost three of his four matches against Dan but the Chinese great is not the force he once was. The former world number one is now placed 14th in the international rankings. The last time Sriknath beat Dan was in 2014 at the China Open.
If Srikanth manages to get past Dan and Sameer Verma overcomes Asian Games gold-medallist Jonathan Christie, it will be an all-Indian quarterfinal in the bottom half of the men’s singles draw.
In the doubles competition, Ashwini Ponappa and N Sikki Reddy moved to the second round of women’s doubles with an easy 21-7, 21-11 win over the American team of Ariel Lee and Sydney Lee.
But it was curtains for Meghanna Jakkampudi and S Ram Poorvisha, who lost 17-21, 11-21 to the Swedish combination of Emma Karlsson and Johanna Magnusson.
