US Open badminton: Kidambi Srikanth, Tanvi Sharma advance to second round

Indian shuttlers enjoyed a dominant opening night at the US Open in Fullerton, as Kidambi Srikanth, Tanvi Sharma, and Devika Sihag registered straight-game victories to sail into the second round of their respective singles and doubles events

Hyderabad: World Junior Championship silver medallist Tanvi Sharma and Thailand Masters champion Devika Sihag registered comfortable wins to kick off their US Open campaign in style in Fullerton (US) on Wednesday night.
Tanvi defeated Yvonne Li of Germany 23-21, 21-16 while Devika beat Ines Lucia Castillo of Peru 21-14, 21-14 in the women’s singles first round.

In the first of the two all-Indian clashes, up and coming Rounak Chouhan defeated former world junior silver medallist S Sankar Muthusamy 23-21, 21-16. Fifth seed Kidambi Srikanth then dominated the match against compatriot D Saneeth to win 21-14, 21-12 in just 30 minutes. Also advancing to the next round were Rakshitha Sree in women’s singles and the mixed doubles combination of Dhruv Rawat and K Maneesha.

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Rakshitha defeated Tereza Svabikova of Czech Republic 21-15, 21-8 while the seventh seeded mixed doubles pairing of Rawat and Maneesha needed just 26 minutes to pack off Indonesia’s Wirawan Ihsan Adam and Serena Kani 21-15, 21-16.