Singapore Open | Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy advance as Sai Praneeth gets eliminated
Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy, and Sameer Verma commenced their Singapore Open campaigns with victories against Sitthikom Thammasin, Brice Leverdez, and Suppanyu Avihingsanon respectively. However, Sai Praneeth had to go down fighting against top-seeded Kento Momota of Japan in a tensed match.
Playing the last match of the day, Srikanth was expected to wrap up things against 24-year-old Thammasin very quickly but the Thailand shuttler made things difficult for the sixth-seeded Indian. Srikanth had to dig deep to win the match 21-17, 21-18 as the match lasted 41 minutes and he is going to play Denmark’s Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus next who overcame Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama.
Prannoy had a tougher draw in the first round itself as he went on against France’s Brice Leverdez. Playing against Prannoy twice before, the Frenchman had won once and lost the other. And, Prannoy bettered that head-to-head record by winning the match 11-21, 21-16, 21-18. He will be facing Japan’s Kento Momota next, who is also the top seed in the tournament.
Sameer Verma had a comparatively easier task against Thailand’s Suppanyu and he defeated the Thailand player quite convincingly. The match lasted only 36 minutes as Verma won it 21-14, 21-6 to set up a pre-quarterfinal clash against China’s Lu Guangzu.
While Sai Praneeth had started off very well against heavy favourites Momota by winning the first game 21-19, the Japanese ace came back to win the next two games 21-14 and 22-20. In other game, Parupalli Kashyap won 21-19, 21-14 against Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke to set up the round 2
