Sindhu, Srikanth Move In German Open

Mulheim: Former world champion PV Sindhu and World championships silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth advanced to the second round of the German Open 2022 Super 300 badminton tournament after winning their respective opening round matches, here on Tuesday.

Sindhu registered a dominating 21-8, 21-7 win over Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan to enter the second round. With this win, she extended her head-to-head record against the Thai shuttler to 15-1.

The two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu started the match swinging and raced to an 11-4 lead at the first break. She upped the ante after the restart and sealed the first game convincingly. World No 11 Ongbamrungphan tried to keep the Indian ace in check in the second game but Sindhu was in fine touch and went on to pocket the match in straight games.

The 26-year old Sindhu will next face the winner of the match between unseeded shuttlers Zhang Yiman of China and Beatriz Corrales of Spain. If Sindhu wins her next round, she could run into the current world No 1 and Tokyo Olympic silver-medallist Tai Tzu-Ying in the quarter-finals.

Tai had defeated PV Sindhu in the semi-finals of the Tokyo Olympics and she has a strong 14-5 head-to-head record against the Indian shuttler.

Meanwhile, Kidambi Srikanth, India's only seeded badminton player in men's singles at the German Open, overcame a stiff challenge from world No 39 Brice Leverdez of France in the opening round.

The Indian, ranked world No 11 and seeded eighth at the tournament, defeated his French opponent 21-10, 13-21, 21-7.

However, in the mixed doubles, India's Sai Pratheek and N Sikki Reddy crashed out after losing to the Thai team of Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai, the top seeds, 19-21, 8-21.

Later in the day, Saina Nehwal will open her campaign against Clara Azurmendi of Spain.

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