Saina, Srikanth progress, doubles campaign ends
NEW DELHI: Saina Nehwal was hardly troubled by her opponent, progressing to the third round of women’s singles at the World Championships in Basel on Tuesday. Kidambi Srikanth too advanced to the pre-quarterfinals but struggled against a lowlyranked Misha Zilberman of Israel before prevailing in three games.
However, India’s doubles campaign ended with the exit of men’s doubles pair MR Arjun and Shlok Ramchandran.
Eighth seed Saina had an easy outing. Following a first-round bye, she needed 33 minutes to dispose Dutch world No 72 Soraya De Visch Eijbergen 21-10, 21-11 in what was the first meeting between the two. With husband and coach Parupalli Kashyap sitting courtside, the London Olympics bronze medallist showed she meant business by winning 42 of the 63 points played in the match.
Saina, who reached the World Championships final in 2015, will next face Danish 12th seed Mia Blichfeldt for a place in the quarter-finals in what will be the first match between the two.
However, seventh-seeded Srikanth is yet to find his “touch” after three-game victories in the first two rounds. Expected to ease past Israeli world No 25 Misha Zilberman, the former world No 1 Indian struggled to get past 13-21, 21-13, 21-16 in 57 minutes.
After losing the first game, Srikanth upped the ante to win the second and level the contest.
Initially Srikanth stamped his authority to take a 14-4 lead in the decider but made several uncharacteristic errors, helping the Israeli close the gap to 11-16. Again while leading 20-12, the world No 10 Indian wasted four match points before eventually closing the contest. Srikanth will have to raise his game if he wishes to claim a medal at the Worlds as he faces Thai 12th seed Kantaphon Wangcharoen in the third round.
Meanwhile, Japanese eighth seeds Shiho Tanaka and Koharu Yonemoto took 33 minutes to beat Meghana Jakkampudi and Poorvisha S Ram 21-8, 21-18 in the second round of women’s doubles.
On the verge of an upset, Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy wasted four game points in the first game to lose the momentum and go down 20-22, 16-21 to China’s Du Yue and Li Yin Hui.
Chinese sixth seeds and 2019 Sudirman Cup winners Han Cheng Kai and Zhou Hao Dong beat Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy 21-16, 21-19 in 33 minutes in men’s doubles second round to take a 3-0 lead in career meetings against the world No 25 Indian pair. Later, Arjun and Shlok’s 14-21, 13-21 loss in 37 minutes to Chinese 16th seeds Liu Cheng and Zhang Nan ended India’s campaign in doubles.