French Open: Kidambi Srikanth beats compatriot Lakshya Sen in straight games

Kidambi Srikanth prevailed over Lakshya Sen to advance to the men’s singles second round of the French Open on Wednesday.

Kidambi Srikanth outperforms Lakshya Sen in French Open (Reuters)

By India Today Web Desk: Kidambi Srikanth defeated Lakshya Sen in an all-Indian duel to storm into the second round of the French Open Super 750 badminton tournament on Wednesday. Srikanth, the silver medalist at the 2021 World Championships, defeated junior compatriot Sen 21-18, 21-18 in a 46-minute first-round match.

This was only the second career match between the top two Indian shuttlers. Sen had previously lost to his senior compatriot in the semifinals of the 2021 World Championships, taking bronze. The winner of the first-round match between Rasmus Gemke of Denmark and Nhat Nguyen of Ireland will face Srikanth next.

Sameer Verma, meanwhile, registered an upset win over Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia to also make it to the second round. Verma beat sixth-seeded Ginting 21-15, 21-23, 22-20 in a hard-fought upset win in a first-round match that lasted one hour and 17 minutes. Verma made a remarkable fightback in the deciding game. He saved two match points after being 18-20 down.

HS Prannoy also made it to the second round of the tournament with a hard-fought win over Liew Daren of Malaysia in the men’s singles. Prannoy defeated his lower-ranked opponent 21-16, 16-21, 21-16 in a first-round match that lasted one hour and 13 minutes.

Prannoy will next face Lu Guang Zu of China. In the men’s doubles, the Indian pair of M R Arjun and Dhruv Kapila lost to the fifth-seeded Indonesian duo of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardiant 15-21 16-21 in the first round.