Thailand Open 2019: Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth move into second round 

It was a good start for Indian shuttlers as Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth moved into the second round of Super 500 Thailand Open played at Bangkok on Wednesday.

Indian ace Kidambi Srikanth had to fight it out with Ren Peng Bo of China before outlasting him 21-13, 17-21, 21-19. It was a good start as the Indian tamed the Chinese player to take the first game 21-13. In the second game, the Chinese fought back strongly to force the match into the decider. The third game was a closely-fought encounter as both players struggled for each point before Srikanth held his nerves to win the third game. He will take on Phetpradab of Thailand in the second round.

HS Prannoy defeated Wong Wing Ki Vincent of Hong Kong 21-16, 22-20 to move into the second round. It was a dominating performance by Prannoy who did not allow Wong to recover and won the first game easily at 21-16. The second game was a much closer fight and both of them kept exhibiting their skills before the Indian held his nerves to win it closely at 22-20. He will take on Kenta Nishimoto next.

Parupalli Kashyap battled with Zilberman of Israel before winning the match 18-21, 21-8, 21-14. In the first game, the Israel player proved his fighting spirit to make a great start. In the next two games, Kashyap dominated Zilberman, particularly in the second game, winning it easily. Even the third appeared to be one-sided as Kashyap refused to take his foot off the pedal. He will take on Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei now.

Subhankar Dey moved into the second round as Kento Momota withdrew from the tournament. He will take on Sai Praneeth who defeated Wangcharoen of Thailand.

It was curtains for Sourabh Verma as he lost to seventh seed Tsuneyama of Japan 21-23, 21-19, 5-21. The opening game was a tight affair and the Japanese ultimately edged the first game narrowly at 23-21. The second game was a close affair but this time around, Sourabh Verma won the game at 21-19 to force the match into a decider.

In the deciding game, the Japanese totally dominated the Indian and won the match easily. His brother, Sameer Verma lost to Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia 23-21, 11-21, 5-21 to be knocked out in the first round. Only the first game saw Sameer giving a tough fight while in the remaining two games, he did not offer any resistance.

Sai Praneeth defeated Wangcharoen of Thailand 17-21, 21-17, 21-15 to move into the second round. Saina Nehwal had no problems in defeating Chaiwan of Thailand 21-17, 21-19. After coming back from injury, it was a testing time for the Indian who had a close encounter from the opposition, but she managed to hold her own towards the end of each game. She will take on Takahashi of Japan next.

Doubles shine

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa stunned the reigning Olympic silver medallists Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying of Malaysia 21-18, 18-21, 21-17 to advance to the second round. The Indian pair made a great start with attacking badminton and won the first game. In the second game, the Malaysian pair fought back and won it with a similar margin to make it 1-1. Rankireddy and Ponnappa raised their game and stunned the Malaysian pair to win the third game and match to complete the upset. They will take on Prasetya and Islami of Indonesia in the second round.

Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Sikki Reddy defeated Gondo and Kurihara of Japan 21-16, 21-13 to enter the second round. They will next face eighth seeds Tang Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet of Hong Kong.