Swiss Open: Fighting wins for Sindhu, Srikanth

Basel, March 20

Double Olympics medallist PV Sindhu, in-form Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth produced impressive performances to progress to the second round of the Swiss Open Super 300 badminton tournament here today.

Sindhu, who had claimed the title in 2022, beat Thailand’s Pornpicha Choeikeewong 21-12 21-13 to set up a meeting with Japan’s Tomoka Miyazaki in the second round.

Sen, who had reached back-to-back semifinals at the French Open and All England Championships in the last two weeks, outlasted Malaysia’s Leong Jun Hao 21-19 15-21 21-11 in 62 minutes and will next face Chinese Taipei’s Chia Hao Lee.

Former world No. 1 Srikanth, who had clinched the title in 2015, outwitted world No. 24 Wang Tzu Wei 21-17 21-18 in a 43-minute contest. It was his sixth win in seven meetings against the Chinese Taipei player. Srikanth, a 2021 World Championships silver medallist, will next face a tough opponent in Malaysia’s top seed Lee Zii Jia.

In women’s doubles, sixth seeds Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa 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.

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, 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.