Eighth seed Kidambi Srikanth has the easiest of draws among all the Indians competing in singles at the Indonesia Open in Jakarta this week. If he can play his naturally attacking game and keep the errors at bay, the 2017 champion can look to make it to the semi-finals.
Srikanth, who reached the India Open final in March, failed to get past the quarters in his subsequent couple of tournaments. The Indonesia Open thus presents him a good opportunity to cross the quarter-final hurdle and get some of that lost confidence back.
With a fine performance in the first round on Wednesday, the Guntur-born shuttler made it clear that he is indeed looking to make an impact at the place where he has fond memories of lifting the trophy. Srikanth needed 38 minutes to dispatch World No. 10 Kenta Nishimoto 21-14, 21-13 to set up a Round of 16 meeting with the 13th ranked NG Ka Long Angus.
On paper, Srikanth is the favorite by dint of his 2-1 record over the Hong Kong ace. The solitary win that Angus had over the Indian came way back in 2016. Since then, Srikanth has not dropped a game in his face-offs with Angus, with his most recent victory coming this year at the Malaysia Masters.
However, Srikanth cannot afford to be complacent. The former Hong Kong Open champion knocked out Brice Leverdez effortlessly yesterday with a 21-13, 21-9 scoreline and he would hope to put up a fight against the Indian too.
Here is all you need to know about the Indonesia Open:
Tournament name: Blibli Indonesia Open 2019
Category: Super 1000
Location: Jakarta, Indonesia
Schedule of match: (8) Kidambi Srikanth vs NG Ka Long Angus second-round match not before 5:35 pm IST on Thursday, July 18, 2019
Head-to-head: Srikanth leads Angus 2-1
Where to watch the matches in India?
The Indonesia Open matches will be telecast live on Star Sports 1 and Star Sports 1 HD from July 17.
Live Stream Details and Info for the matches:
Live Stream for the matches is available on hotstar.com.