Kidambi Srikanth, Lakshya Sen progress to second round of Swiss Open

Basel, March 20

Former champion Kidambi Srikanth and in-form Lakshya Sen produced impressive performances to progress to the men’s singles second round of the Swiss Open super 300 badminton tournament here on Wednesday.

Srikanth, the former world no. 1, who had claimed the title in 2015, outwitted world no. 24 Chinese Taipei’s Wang Tzu Wei 21-17 21-18 in a 43-minute contest. It was his sixth win in seven meetings against his opponent.

Later Sen, who had reached back-to-back semifinals at French Open and All England Championships in last two weeks, outlasted Malaysia’s Leong Jun Hao 21-19 15-21 21-11 in 62 minutes to set up a clash with Chinese Taipei’s  Chia Hao Lee.

Srikanth, a 2011 world championships silver medallist, will next face a tough opponent in Malaysia’s top seed Lee Zii Jia.

In women’s doubles, Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa, seeded sixth, overcame Indonesia’s Meilysa Trias Puspitasari and Rachel Allessya Rose 21-18 12-21 21-19 in a thrilling opener.

The world no. 20 Indian pair will face Japan’s Rui Hirokami and Yuna Kato next.

Another Indian pair of Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra beat Chinese Taipei’s Huang Yu-Hsun and Liang Ting Yu 21-13 21-19 in another women’s doubles match.

On Tuesday, Indian shuttlers Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand had advanced to the women’s doubles second round with a 21-15 21-12 win over USA’s Annie Xu and Kerry Xu in the opening round.

However, the other three Indian pairs competing in the women’s doubles main draw made first round exits.

Ashwini Bhat and Shikha Gautam went down 13-21 21-16 14-21 to the fourth seeds from Hong Kong Yeung Nga Ting and Yeung Pui Lam, while Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda were ousted 4-21 6-21 by top seeds Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti of Indonesia.

Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker were brushed aside 17-21 7-21 by Indonesia’s Tria Mayasari and Ribka Sugiarto.