Kidambi Srikanth and PV Sindhu advanced to the second round of the
Malaysia Open BWF World Tour Super 750 tournament in Bukit Jalil on Wednesday.
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Sai Praneeth crashed out of the tournament losing to Tzu Wei Wang of Chinese Taipei 12-21, 7-21. Indian challenge came to an end in doubles with the exit of men's doubles pair of
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and
Chirag Shetty. The duo lost to seventh seeded Japanese pair of Takuto Inoue and Yuki Kaneko 16-21, 15-21.
Earlier in the women's singles first round, third seed Sindhu put down the stiff challenge posed by Aya Ohori of Japan 26-24, 21-15.
Ohori stretched Sindhu in the first game. At one state Ohori was leading 24-23 before Sindhu won three straight points to clinch the game. In the second game, Sindhu broke free from 13-14 with a five-point burst to move to 18-14. Thereafter, Ohori found it difficult after conceding such a big lead.
The world No.3 Indian will face world No.39 Ying Ying Lee of Malaysia in the pre-quarterfinal. This would be the first meeting between the two shuttlers.
Meanwhile, world No.1 Tai Tzu Ying drubbed Sonia Cheah of Malaysia 21-10, 21-9 while Olympic champion Carolina Marin worked hard to beat Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia 21-4, 18-21, 21-8.
Srikanth warmed up with a straight game victory against Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark 21-18, 21-9. In the pre-quarterfinals, Srikanth will face Tzu Wei Wang, who defeated Praneeth on Wednesday. Srikanth enjoys a 2-0 win-loss record against Tzu.
Indian results (Rd I) Men's singles: 4-Kidambi Srikanth bt Jan O Jorgensen (Den) 21-18, 21-9; Tzu Wei Wang (Tpe) bt Sai Praneeth 21-12, 21-7;
Men's doubles: 7-Takuto Inoue/Yuki Kaneko (Jpn) bt Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty 21-16, 21-15.
Women's singles: 3-Pusarla V Sindhu bt Aya Ohori (Jpn) 26-24, 21-15.
Mixed doubles: 4-Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong (Chn) bt Pranaav Jerry Chopra/Sikki Reddy 21-16, 21-12.