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The star Indian performers from last week’s Denmark Open continue to produce good form as both Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth entered the second round of the French Open 2018 in Paris on Wednesday. For both, it was a hassle-free straight-game win and they now join PV Sindhu, who reached the Round of 16 a day earlier.
Nehwal, the Denmark Open runner-up from last week, was hardly ever troubled in her 21-11, 21-11 win over the 37th ranked Saena Kawakami of Japan. Establishing early control, the 28-year-old never let go of the momentum and swept her opponent off the court in just 37 minutes.
Up next for the former World No. 1 is a tough match for she is slated to meet the former world champion and eighth seed Nozomi Okuhara. The two met in a blockbuster quarter-final in Odense a week ago and the Indian managed to prevail over the Japanese after losing their three previous encounters.
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Earlier in the day, men’s singles fifth seed and defending champion Kidambi Srikanth began the day’s proceedings with a 21-19, 21-13 win over the 22nd ranked Wong Wing Ki Vincent, who beat him at the Asian Games in August.
The start of the match did not prove to be easy for the Indian as Vincent kept coming back each time Srikanth nudged ahead. The Indian led 9-5 only to see the Hong Kong shuttler levelling it at 14-14. In a test of stamina and hunger, Srikanth held his nerves at 19-19 to win the next couple of points and bag the first game.
The second game turned out to be a breezier affair for the Indian. He built an 11-6 advantage at the mid-game interval and then steadily kept increasing the gap between them through patience and poise.
Up next for the 2017 champion is Korea’s Lee Dong Keun, who leads Srikanth 2-0 in their head-to-head meetings.
Swiss Open champion Sameer Verma squandered a one-game lead to go down 21-16, 17-21, 15-21 to the Asian Games gold medallist Jonatan Christie in 61 minutes.
Sai Praneeth rebounded from a three-match losing streak to secure a 21-13, 21-17 win over the 38th ranked Ygor Coelho of Brazil.
Ponnappa and Rankireddy lose a thriller
World Championships quarter-finalist mixed doubles duo of Ashwini Ponnappa and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy let go of a lead in the deciding game to suffer a narrow 22-24, 21-18, 19-21 defeat to World No. 10 duo of Chris and Gabrielle Adcock in an absorbing duel lasting 1 hour 14 minutes.
Rohan Kapoor and Kuhoo Garg also went down 5-21, 10-21 to the top seeds and Denmark Open champions Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong in the same category.
National men’s doubles champions Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy prevailed 21-18, 21-17 over World No. 47 Korean combine of Min Hyuk Kang and Kim Won Ho. 2017 quarter-finalists Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty are scheduled to begin their campaign later in the day.
India’s sole representative in women’s doubles -- the team of Meghana Jakkampudi and Poorvisha S Ram -- had an effortless 21-12, 21-12 win over the Belgian pair of Lisa Jacques and Flore Vandenhoucke.
