Sameer Verma produced one of the best results for him in recent times at the international level, downing world No 6 Anthony Ginting at the French Open Super 750 in Paris on Wednesday.
Verma defeated Ginting in an absolute rollercoaster, saving two match points in the decider 21-15, 21-23, 22-20 in 77 minutes in the round of 32 match.
Also progressing to the round of 16 was HS Prannoy, who defeated a familiar foe in Daren Liew, also in three games.
Later in the day, in a rollercoaster all-Indian clash, former world No 1 Srikanth Kidambi downed the current India No 1 Lakshya Sen in straight games, 21-18 21-18 in 46 minutes.
Verma, ranked 31st in the world now, produced a fine performance to save match points and down the Indonesian star in three games. In the second game, the Indian fought back from 15-20 down to force a match point but Ginting saved that and converted his next game point.
In the decider it was Ginting who had the lead for most part but the Indian mounted a fine comeback from 8-14 to 14-14. From there both players had their moments but Verma once again fought back from 18-20 down to win four straight points.
Verma will next take on Thailand rising star Kunlavut Vitidsarn, ranked No 10 in the world now. They are tied 1-1 in their Head-to-Head, with the Indian winning their last meeting in 2021. Vitidsarn is the reigning world championship silver medallist.
Prannoy took the opening game but Liew fought back hard in game 2. Things got heated towards the end after a lengthy break due to an umpiring confusion in the decider. But Prannoy held his lead and his nerve to win 21-16, 16-21, 21-16. Liew throws his racket away at the end.
The in-form Indian will next take on Lu Guang Zu of China, the world No 22. It will be their first meeting.
Earlier in the day, MR Arjun / Dhruv Kapila were defeated in straight games as Fajar Alfian / Muhammad Rian Ardianto asserted their form and class on this match. The Indonesians won 21-15, 21-16 in 37 minutes.
Srikanth prevails
In the rematch of the 2021 World Championships semifinal that Srikanth had won, Lakshya started off slowly and well of the pace to find himself 9-17 down in the opening game. But the world No 8 fought back to win nine out of the next 10 points to level things up at 18-18. Srikanth however regained the lead after a brilliant rally and held on from there to take the lead.
The second game saw Lakshya lead for the majority of it, only for Srikanth to find his groove in the back-end and close it out in straight games.
Srikanth will next face Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke. The Indian has won their solitary past meeting on the tour, in 2018.
On day one, India’s seventh seeds in the men’s doubles event Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty endured an opening game loss, but came back strong to win their first round. They will take on Malaysia’s Man Wei Chong Man and Tee Kai Wun. Satwik-Chirag lead the H2H 1-0, with their win coming this year at Malaysia Open.
Read more about how the matches unfolded in this Twitter thread.
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