Kidambi Srikanth survived a scare on Wednesday in the men’s singles first round at the Spain Masters Super 300 in Madrid while Aakarshi Kashyap pulled off an upset by beating sixth seed Michelle Li in the women’s singles first round.
Later in the day, second seed PV Sindhu got her campaign underway with a first round win against Switzerland’s Jenjira Stadelmann. In a rematch of the Swiss Open first-round fixture, Sindhu registered another comfortable win, prevailing 21-10, 21-14.
Up against Thailand’s Sitthikom Thammasin, Srikanth comfortably won the first game 21-11. The Indian carried that momentum into the second game but squandered six match points in a marathon to be forced into a decider. The Indian former world No 1 also led 12-5 at one point but it was Thammasin who had two match points in the decider. But Srikanth saved both before closing out a 65-minute match 21-11, 25-27, 23-21.
Kashyap, ranked 42 in the world, lost the first game but bounced back brilliantly to win the match 12-21, 21-15, 21-18 in a 51-minute match. This was the biggest win of her career on the BWF World Tour, beating a top-15 player for the first time. In fact, this was her first win against a player in the top 30 after 15 defeats in the past. She will next take on Natsuki Nidaira of Japan, the world No 34.
There was however disappointment in doubles for the Indian contingent.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, fresh after winning the Swiss Open Super 300 title on Sunday, retired from their match at the mid-game interval of the first game in their first round match against Japan’s Ayato Endo and Yuta Takei. It is unclear yet, the nature of their retirement but it appeared as if Satwik was pointed towards his leg before letting the officials know they can’t continue.
Update: Scroll understands both Satwik and Chirag were carrying niggles and the decision was taken out of precaution.
Srikanth has set up an all-Indian round of 16 with B Sai Praneeth who defeated Jan Louda of the Czech Republic in three games. The Basel World Championships bronze medallist overcame Louda 16-21 21-18 12-21 in 61 minutes.
In women’s doubles, sixth seeds Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand lost to the Japanese pair of Rena Miyaura-Ayako Sakuramoto 21-18, 21-16 in 39 minutes. While the Indians were seeded, their Japanese opponents came into this tournament on form, having won the Swiss Open title last week.
In an all-Indian round of 32 clash in men’s singles, Kiran George overcame recently-crowned national champion Mithun Manjunath in straight games 21-16, 21-14. Priyanshu Rajawat, who came through the qualification round, also moved into the second round.
Also progressing to the round of 16 in women’s singles was the left-handed Ashmita Chaliha who defeated Leonice Huet. Chaliha will take on Yeo Jia Min of Singapore next. Malvika Bansod too notched up an impressive win against Kisona Selvaduray of Malaysia. Bansod’s reward is a clash against home favourite and top seed Carolina Marin in the second round.
In the final match of the day for the Indian contingent, Sameer Verma prevailed in three games against Nhat Nguyen to set up a second round clash against second seed Kanta Tsuneyama.
After a repeat of the first-round fixture in Basel, it’s a repeat of the second-round fixture for Sindhu as she will once again take on Putri Kusuma Wardani. Kiran will take on world No 55 Magnus Johannesen of Denmark and Rajawat has a tough test against Toma Junior Popov of France, the 8th seed.
Arathi Sara Sunil and Sikki Reddy, MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila will also be in action on Thursday after their wins in the opening round on Tuesday.
Here are India’s results through the day:
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