Singapore Open 2017 | Sindhu and Praneeth struggle into second round while Srikanth cruises

Srikanth registered a straightforward 21-12, 21-11 victory over Kenta Nishimoto of Japan to book his place in the second round. But it wasn't as simple for Sindhu and Sai Praneeth as they were made to work hard for their place in the next round of the competition.

Sindhu was pushed the distance by Nozomi Okuhara from Japan who took the first game 10-21. The 21-year-old dominated Okuhara in the second but the Japanese managed to level the game up at six points apiece, before Sindhu won 9 consecutive points to force a decider. With something between her teeth, the lanky Indian broke free at 9-8 in the third game to take a 16-8 lead and in no time made it to 20-14. The Indian star had 6 match point opportunities, but the diminutive Okuhara saved all six before Sindhu closed out the game with two winners to seal a 10-21, 21-15, 22-20 victory. She will now face Fitriani Fitriani of Indonesia in the second round.

Meanwhile, Rituparna Das lost 18-21, 13-21 to Hsu Ya Ching of Taiwan. Sai Praneeth on the other hand also had to come from a game down against Emil Hilst before winning it 17-21, 21-7, 21-19. In the women’s doubles, Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy beat Yin Loo Lim and Yap Cheng Wen of Malaysia 21-19, 21-19. Ponnappa and Sumeeth Reddy also won in the mixed doubles beating Venkat Prasad and Juhi Dewangan  21-13, 21-14.