Srikanth enters pre-quarterfinals of China Open

Fuzhou: Indian ace Kidambi Srikanth progressed to the pre-quarterfinals with an easy victory but HS Prannoy exited after a straight-game loss in the opening round of the China Open World Tour Super 750 tournament here on Wednesday.

Fifth seed Srikanth, ranked 9th, saw off France’s Lucas Corvee 21-12 21-16 in 35 minutes to set up a clash with Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto. However, Prannoy lost 11-21 14-21 to Asian Games gold medallist Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in another men’s singles opener.

There was more bad news in store for India as young Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka went down 12-21 16-21 to Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand in a women’s singles match. In the mixed doubles, the Indian duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa fought hard before losing 21-18 19-21 17-21 to seventh seeded Malaysian combination of Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying.

On way to his third win over world no 42 Corvee, Srikanth displayed good command over his game as he erased an initial 1-4 deficit to lead 11-7 at the break of the opening game. He then extended his stranglehold over his rival to pocket the game comfortably.

In the second game, Corvee showed fighting spirit for a while as he moved neck and neck with Srikanth till 7-7. After that the Indian grabbed a 11-9 advantage at the interval and then kept increasing his lead to eventually shut the door on the French. On Tuesday, Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu entered the pre-quarterfinals.