Kashyap shocks third seed to reach second round of French Open

Parupalli Kashyap

Paris, Oct 22 (IANS)

Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap marched into the second round of the women's and men's categories of the French Open Super Series at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin here Wednesday.

Saina, World No.7, beat hosts' challenger and the World No.36 Sashina Vignes Waran 21-16, 21-9 in a totally one-sided encounter that took just 37 minutes.

Saina will next face Scottish shuttler Kirsty Gilmour.

Meanwhile, Continuing his giant-killing spree, the World No.28 Kashyap stunned World No.4 Japanese Kenichi Tago 21-11, 21-18 while

Also reaching the second round were the Indo-Russian mixed doubles pair of Ashwini and Vladimir Ivanov, who beat Japanese pair of Keigo Sonoda and Shizuka Matsuo 21-16, 21-19.

However, young male shuttlers H.S. Prannoy and Sourabh Verma exited the competition following their losses to Kento Momota and Rajiv Ouseph, respectively.

While World No.31 Prannoy gave a valiant fight against World No.16 Momota of Japan, before going down 11-21, 21-15, 20-22 in an hour and nine minutes, World No.37 Sourabh was thrashed 10-21, 11-21 in 30 minutes by World No.25 Ouseph.

In the match between Kashyap and Tago, the 2014 Commonwealth Games champion was in his element from the beginning, taking a quick 5-1 lead which increased to 8-2.

Kashyap relied on regal cross-court smashes to pile further pressure on Tago to snatch points regularly and then it was an easy game for Kashyap as the Japanese failed to get going. Tago lost 11-21.

Continuing the momentum, Kashyap again rattled the 25-year-old Japanese to take a 5-1 lead before Tago put up a much-stronger fight to equalise at 7-7.

The Indian surged ahead again with a 10-7 lead. The Japan worked hard to get even at 12-12 and forced Kashyap to trail for the first time in the match at 12-15.

However, Kashyap lifted his game to reduce the deficit at 17-17 before taking three consecutive points to seal the game 21-18 and enter the second round.