India's top two shuttle queens – Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu – notched up comfortable wins to enter the second round of the $325,000 BWF Metlife Yonex Sunrise India Open Superseries 2017 at the Siri Fort Indoor Stadium in New Delhi on Wednesday.
The 2015 champion Nehwal, now seeded sixth, was the first one to progress with a 21-10, 21-17 victory over the 39th-ranked Chinese Taipei shuttler Chia Hsin Lee in 35 minutes. She will next face the World Junior Championships runner-up Pornpawee Chochuwong, a player who gave her a tough fight at the Malaysia Masters final in January.
The third-seeded Sindhu, meanwhile, faced some stiff resistance from her senior compatriot Arundhati Pantawane, who came into this tournament on the back of winning the All India Senior Ranking Badminton tournament.
The World No. 152 was involved in a neck and neck competition with Sindhu initially but the Rio Olympic silver medallist managed to eke out the opening game 21-17 and then powered her way to the finish line for a 21-17, 21-6 victory in 30 minutes.
The World No. 5 will next take on Saena Kawakami of Japan for a place in the quarter-finals.
Big win for Sameer Verma
But the day’s biggest headline was made by the Syed Modi International men’s singles champion Sameer Verma. The 22-year-old played a sensational match to stun the fourth seed and World No. 5 Son Wan Ho of Korea, 21-17, 21-10 in 45 minutes. Sameer will next take on the World No. 15 Hu Yun in the second round.
His elder brother, Sourabh, also won, making it a great day for the Verma family. The reigning national champion triumphed 21-13, 21-16 over countryman HS Prannoy, who is ranked 26th presently, 15 places above Sourabh.
Sai Praneeth put up a gutsy effort to edge past the Japanese qualifier Kenta Nishimoto 16-21, 21-12, 21-19 in a marathon battle that lasted one hour two minutes.
Later in the day, 2015 champion Srikanth Kidambi joined them making it four Indians in the second round of men’s singles. The World No. 31 avenged his All England Championships first round defeat to Zhao Junpeng by notching up a 21-19, 21-16 win in 32 minutes.
He thus set up a blockbuster second round clash with the third seed Viktor Axelsen which will be a repeat of the 2015 final which the Indian won. The Dane eliminated the India No. 1 Ajay Jayaram, 23-21, 21-17.
Das makes it three Indians in women's singles second round
Over in the women’s singles, national champion Rituparna Das became the third Indian to advance to Round 2, joining Saina and Sindhu. The 20-year-old came back from a game down and then held her nerve for a 19-21, 21-15, 21-19 win over Taipei’s 30th ranked shuttler Chiang Mei Hui.
She has a tough proposition up next as she faces the top seed and Olympic champion Carolina Marin.
In mixed doubles, seventh seeds Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy put up a strong display to prevail 21-15, 21-19 over Indonesia’s Hafiz Faizal and Shela Devi Aulia. It was double delight for Reddy as she also triumphed in her first round match in women’s doubles alongside veteran Ashwini Ponnappa. The Syed Modi International runners-up convincingly beat the Englishwomen pairing of Gabrielle Adcock and Jessica Pugh, 21-16, 21-16 in the first round.
India got another team in the second round of women’s doubles after qualifiers Shruti Mundada and Anoushka Parikh beat Gauri Asaji and Megha Morchana Bora, 22-20, 21-8 in an all-Indian clash.
In men’s doubles, none of the seven Indian pairs in action managed to progress.
