Smooth sailing for Srikanth and Saina in French Open
FINE FORM Defending champion overcomes Hong Kong rival; Saina equally lethal against Japanese opponent
NEW DELHI : Kidambi Srikanth began his title defence with a commanding victory over Wing Ki Vincent Wong in the $750,000 French Open badminton in Paris on Wednesday. Srikanth saw off the seasoned Hong Kong player 21-19, 21-13 in 42 minutes to advance to second round.
Srikanth, who is seeded fifth, enjoys a 6-3 head-to-head result against Wong. However, Wong had dealt Srikanth a crushing blow by beating him in the Asian Games individual event. Since then, Srikanth has met him twice and won on both occasions.
Srikanth and Wong were level till 5-all before he changed gears and won five points in a row. Though the Hong Kong player fought back but Srikanth maintained the lead and consolidated to take the first game.
Srikanth was more in control in the second game right from the start and took a 6-3 lead. It was smooth sailing from there on and Srikanth romped home with ease.
The Indian will next face South Korean Dong Keun Lee, who got the better of Khosit Phetpradab of Thailand 10-21, 21-10, 21-15. Srikanth had lost to Lee in September in Japan Open. After a stellar 2017 when he won four Superseries titles, Srikanth has not been in the best of form this season.
But he would take heart from his performance in Denmark where he reached the semi-finals before losing to Japanese Kento Momota, who has been his nemesis this year.
However, Sameer Verma, who showed good form in Denmark, bowed out after losing to Asian Games gold medallist Jonatan Christie in tough three games. Sameer won the first game, but Christie rallied to win 16-21, 21-17, 21-15. Sameer had beaten fast-rising Indonesian in Denmark Open last week where he reached the quarter-finals.
B Sai Praneeth defeated Brazil’s Ygor Coleho 21-13, 21-17.
SAINA ADVANCES
In women’s singles, Saina Nehwal, fresh from his appearance in the final in the Denmark Open, wasted little time in advancing to second round. The ace Indian defeated Japan’s Saena Kawakami 21-11, 21-11. Saina will next meet Nozomi Okuhara, who beat Spain’s Beatriz Corrales 21-10, 21-12.
In men’s doubles, Manu Attri and Sumeeth B. Reddy pulled off an impressive victory against South Korean Min Hyuk Kang and Kim Won Ho 21-18, 21-17
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa came close to knocking off the famed duo of Gabrielle Adcock and Chris Adcoock in mixed doubles but lost 22-24, 21,18, 19-21 in an hour and 14-minute contest. Rohan Kapoor and Kuhoo Garg were no match for top seeded Chinese Siwei Zheng and Yaqiong Huang and went down 21-5, 21-10.
LIN DAN CRASHES OUT
Top seed Kento Momota sailed through comfortably with a 21-19, 21-12 win over Chinese Taipei’s Hsu Jen Hao 21-19, 21-12. But it was all over for Lin Dan, who crashed out in the first round after losing to Japanese Kazumasa Sakai 21-9, 14-21, 14-21.