India Open 2018: Sindhu, Saina, Srikanth, Marin lead the march of top guns
DEFENDING CHAMPION PV Sindhu and World No. 3 Kidambi Srikanth led the heavyweights into the second round of the Yonex-Sunrise Dr. Akhilesh Das Gupta India Open 2018, a part of the HSBC BWF World Tour 500, by recording straight-games victories at the Siri Fort Complex here on Wednesday.
Olympic champion Carolina Marin, Thailand's superstar Ratchnaok Intanon and another home favorite Saina Nehwal too impressed in the women’s singles while third seed Chou Tien Chen from Chinese Taipei and fourth seed Shi Yuqi from China looked good during their first-round outings in the men's singles.
Fifth seed HS Prannoy, however, hobbled out of the tournament, losing to qualifier Shreyansh Jaiswal 21-4, 21-6. Battling foot corns, he struggled to get his game going and barely put up a fight. For Shreyansh, though, it was a new high, entering the second round of the tournament for the first time.
He will run into another Indian, Parupalli Kashyap, in the second round. Kashyap defeated Dane Hans-Kristian Vittinghus 21-14, 21-18.
Sindhu downed Denmark's Natalia Rohde 21-10, 21-13 and believed the good start augurs well for her. "With the confidence of this victory, I hope to go further ahead in the tournament," she said. The top seed will meet Linda Zetchiri in the next round after the Bulgarian defeated Vaidehi Choudhari 21-19, 21-15.
Fourth seed Saina cruised past Sofie Holmboe Dahl (Den) 21-15, 21-9, while Marin upstaged Thailand's Mattana Hemrachatanun 21-15, 21-11.
Saina was delighted to cross a tricky hurdle. She said,
“Danish players are always tricky and so you have to keep trying new things against them. I am looking to learn new things."
The former World No. 1 will face another Danish player, Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt, in the second round.
In the men's section, second seed Srikanth, who is making a comeback after an injury layoff, got past Hong Hong's Lee Cheuk Yiu 21-17, 21-18. The 24-year-old, who had a dream run in the 2017 season winning four titles out of the five finals he played, was content with his form and fitness. He said,
“I have a tough draw and keeping in mind my recent form, I really want to focus on getting back the momentum first."
Srikant next meets qualifier Isqandar Zulkarnain of Malaysia, who upset Denmark's Emil Holst 21-15, 21-17.
Chou Tien defeated Rasmus Gemke of Denmark 21-16, 21-15, Shi Yuqi went past Sourab Verma 21-19, 21-11 while eighth seed Sai Praneeth got the better of England’s Rajeev Ouseph 21-11, 17-21, 21-17 in the other men's singles featuring the seeded players.
Top seeds in the men's doubles Indonesia's Marcus Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya and women's doubles star pair of Kamilla Rytter Juhl/Christinna Pedersen from Denmark also made it to the second round with ease.
India’s mixed doubles pairings of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Ashwini Ponappa, Pranaav Jerry Chopra/Sikki Reddy and Rohan Kapoor/Kuhoo Garg also headed into the next round. Satwiksairaj and Ashwini did well with their men's and women's doubles partners too by advancing to the second round.
SELECT FIRST ROUND RESULTS
MEN’S SINGLES:
2-Kidambi Srikanth (Ind) bt Lee Cheuk Yiu (HKG) 21-17, 21-18
3-Chou Tien Chen (Tpe) bt Rasmus Gemke 21-16, 21-15
Sourabh Verma (Ind) lost to 4-Shi Yuqi (Chn) 21-19, 21-11
Shreyansh Jaiswal (Ind) bt 5-Prannoy HS (Ind) 21-4, 21-6
6-Wang Tzu Wei (Tpe) bt Zhao Junpeng (Chn) 21-8, 21-17
Sameer Verma (Ind) v 7-Anders Antonsen (Den) 22-20, 21-8
8-Sai Praneeth (Ind) bt Rajiv Ouseph 21-11, 17-21, 21-17
MEN’S DOUBLES:
1-Marcus Gideon/ Kevin Sanjaya (Ina) bt Kasper Antonsen/ Niclas Nohr (Den) 21-13, 21-16
2-Mathias Boe/ Carsten Mogensen (Den) bt Philip Chew/ Ryan Chew (USA) 21-15, 21-4
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy / Chirag Shetty (Ind) bt Chang Tak Ching/ Hee Chun Mak (HKG) 21-18, 21-14
WOMEN’S SINGLES:
1-P V Sindhu (Ind) bt Natalia Koch Rohde (Den) 21-10, 21-13
2-Carolina Marin (EsP) v Mattana Hemrachatanun (Tha) 21-15, 21-11
3-Ratchanok Intanon (Tha) bt Rasika Raje (Ind) 21-4, 21-6
4-Saina Nehwal (Ind) bt Sofie Holmboe Dahl (Den) 21-15, 21-9
5-Biewen Zhang (USA) bt Vaishnavi Reddy (Ind) 21-19, 20-22, 21-12
6-Cheung Nyan Yi (HKG) bt Saili Rane (Ind) 21-14, 21-5
7-Yip Pui Yin (HKG) bt Rituparna Das (Ind) 20-22, 21-13, 21-12
8-Beatriz Corrales (Esp) bt Riya Mukherjee (Ind) 20-22, 21-18, 21-12
WOMEN’S DOUBLES:
1-Kamilla Rytter Juhl/ Christinna Pedersen (Den) v Haritha Harinarayanan/ Riya Mukherjee (Ind) 21-11, 21-7
2-Jongkolphan Kititharakul/ Rawinda Prajongjai (Tha) v Sanyogita Ghorpade/ Prajakta Samant (Ind) 21-18, 21-11
6-Ashwini Ponnappa/ Sikki Reddy (Ind) bt Shenan Christian/ Riya Gajjar 21-9, 21-11
MIXED DOUBLES:
3-Tan Kian Meng/ Lai Pei Jing (Mas) bt Saurabh Sharma/ Ansoushka Parik 21-13, 21-14
Pranaav Jerry Chopra/ Sikki Reddy (Ind) bt Hafiz Faizal/ Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja 16-21, 21-17, 21-17
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/ Ashwini Ponappa (Ind) bt Raju Mohamed Rehan / J Anees Kowsar 21-9, 21-10
Rohan Kapoor/ Kuhoo Garg (Ind) bt Yehezkiel Mainaky/ Lyanny Mainaky (Ina) 21-16, 21-13.
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