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Sindhu, Saina and Srikanth enter second round

The Indian had defeated Mitani in three games in the quarterfinals of the Korea Open as well.

P V Sindhu

Bengaluru, September 21: Rio Games silver medallist P V Sindhu recovered from a game down to beat Japan's Minatsu Mitani 12-21, 21-15, 21-17 and enter the second round of the Japan Open Badminton Super Series.

Fresh from her victory in the Korea Open, Sindhu was high on confidence, but Mitani proved to be a tough opponent.

The 22-year-old world No. 4 set up a second-round face off with world champion Nozomi Okuhara whom she beat in the Korea Open final last Sunday (September 17).

It will be their third meeting in the last three tournaments, having also competed in the World Championship final in Glasgow last month where Sindhu lost.

Also joining Sindhu in second round are her compatriots Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth.

Saina, who had skipped the Korea Open due to a thigh strain, took 39 minutes to dispatch Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong 21-17, 21-9 and will take on reigning Olympic champion Carolina Marin in the next round.

Saina has a 4-3 record against the Spaniard, having lost thrice in the last four meetings.

Srikanth, who had won in Indonesia and Australia, dished out a superlative performance to overcome China's Tian Houwei 21-15, 12-21, 21-11 to improve his 1-6 record against the World No. 10.

US Open GP Gold champion H S Prannoy and Syed Modi GP winner Sameer Verma also advanced with straight-game victories.

While Prannoy got the better off Denmark's Anders Antonsen 21-12, 21-14, Sameer took 40 minutes to subdue Thailand's Khosit Phetpradab 21-12, 21-19.

Sameer's elder brother, Sourabh, however, bowed out after his fight against seventh seed and two-time Olympic gold medallist Lin Dan of China ended with a 11-21, 21-15, 21-13 loss.

Singapore Open champion B Sai Praneeth also found the going tough as he went down fighting to Lee Dong Keun of Korea 21-23, 21-17, 21-14 in a thrilling contest.

(With Agency inputs)

Story first published: Thursday, September 21, 2017, 19:44 [IST]
Other articles published on Sep 21, 2017