PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth, Sai Praneeth advance in Australian Open

Indian shuttlers had a mixed day at the Australian Open Super Series as PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth and B Sai Praneeth progressed to the second round but four others were knocked out in the first round itself on Wednesday.

Srikanth, who won the Indonesia Open last week, continued his good form by defeating Chinese Taipei Kan Chao Yu 21-13 21-16 in the men’s singles opening round while Sai Praneeth had to sweat it out to register a hard-fought 10-21, 21-12, 21- 10 win over Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto.

Srikanth will next play top seed Son Wan Ho of Korea, while Sai Praneeth will be up against Huang Yuxiang of China.

In the women’s singles, Saina was up against a tough opponent in fourth seed Sung Ji Hyun of Korea but the former world no.1 showed her masterclass to beat her opponent in straight games 21-10, 21-16.

PV Sindhu defeated Japan’s Sayaka Sato 21-17, 14-21, 21-18 in her first round match.