India shuttler HS Prannoy made a positive start to his campaign as he beat local player Emil Holst 21-18, 21-19 in a hard-fought match at the Denmark Open Super Series Premier on Wednesday, reported PTI.
The world No 15 recovered from a 6-11 deficit in the second game to, progress to the next round. It was his third win over the Danish shuttler. The Indian is likely to play former World No 1 Malaysian Lee Chong Wei on Thursday.
“It was a tough match. He is a tricky player and I have always played close matches against him. I was trying out a few things in the second game but it didn’t work out. He got points and had a good lead. I was getting tired but I am happy to have won. Hopefully I will be better tomorrow,” said Prannoy.
Double blow for Satwik
However, doubles specialist Satwiksairaj Rankireddy suffered twin defeats in the opening round. Mixed doubles pair of Satwik and Ashwini Ponnappa lost 19-21, 17-21 to Danish pair of Niclas Nohr and Sara Thygesen. In men’s doubles, Satwik and Chirag Shetty failed to get past Korean pair of Chung Eui Seok and Kim Dukyoung, losing 21-14, 18-21, 17-21 in the opening round.
The mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy also crashed out in the opening round after losing 17-21, 15-21 to Irish combo of Sam Magee and Chloe Magee. Sikki was upset with service judgements and took to twitter to vent out her frustration.
“Today’s match has been played by the service umpire and the chair umpire... well done guys #DenmarkOpen they just made me mentally down,” Sikki wrote on her twitter handle.
“What ever rules they make there is of no use... there should be review system in the services that will be the best for the players,” she added.
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