French Open: Indian shuttlers cruise into quarters, Satwik-Chirag upsets world no 6

Indian shuttlers started their campaign with ‘some win, some loss’ note at French Open Super Series which started on 24^th of this month.

Though pre-quarters passed with the unpredicted loss of Saina Nehwal, Sai Praneeth, and Ashwini Ponnappa -Sikki Reddy, other shuttlers P V Sindhu, Srikanth Kidambi, HS Prannoy, and Satwik-Chirag cruised into quarters with their impressive performances.

Second seeded Sindhu defeated Sayaka Takahashi of Japan with 21-14, 21-13 in 39 minutes in a close face-off and reached the first half of the game with one point advantage with 11-10. Sayaka continued her pace with Sindhu till 13-13 gained one more point before Sindhu takes the first game with 21-14. The second game witnessed the close hiccups till 10-9 to the Indian’s advantage and continued the dominance to wrap the match with 21-13.

Sindhu’s match seemed to be way comfortable than Kidambi Srikanth’s tough fight against Wong Wing Ki Vincent of Hong Kong in two straight games. In the opener, the duo somehow reached 17-17 with Srikanth’s deceptive returns and Vincent’s smart takes, and former took the first game with 21-19 followed by another straight win in second game with 21-17. Burdensome

Another men’s singles shuttler, HS Prannoy, who has been buzz these days with his stunning wins, defeated Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus of Denmark with 21-11, 21-12  in 31 minutes.

The Stunning Satwik and Chirag duo

In men’s doubles section, young and emerging shuttlers Satwik and Chirag outplayed world no 6 pair, Mads Conrad-Petersen and Mads Pieler Kolding of Denmark with 22-20, 12-21, 21-19 in 60 minutes.

The duo after securing the first game facing hard rallies with 22-20, suffered the easy loss of 12-21 to the opponents who maintained the lead since the beginning of the second game. Nevertheless, their loss in the previous game helped them to save the energy in winning the pre-quarters match against the Danes. The Indians stood far from the Danes after making 1-1 and with 1 point advantage at 3-2 in the beginning and later secured the most of 5 straight points and reached 8-2. With no surprise, the top ranked Danes caught up the young Indians at 19-19 with their experienced moves and seamless game.

The young Indians with their incredible form then seized the game with two straight points and marched into quarters.

Earlier Rounds

Although, the left-right handed pair Pranaav and Sikki suffered the early loss of 21-15, 21-12 in their qualifying rounds against Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia on day 1, day 2 kick started with the breathtaking win of HS Prannoy over the veteran Lee Hyun II with 21-15, 21-17 in 42-minutes.

An emanation of the winning spirit started with Prannoy and continued towards Praneeth; who defeated Khosit Phetpradab of Thailand with 21-13, 21-23, 21-19 in 65 minutes.

In women’s doubles match, Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy defeated Jenny Moore and Victoria Williams with 21-12, 21-12 in a 24-minute effortless encounter, followed by the tough loss of Parupalli Kashyap to the young Anthony Sinisuka Ginting with 21-23, 21-18, 21-17 which took 74 minutes.

The newly-crowned Denmark Open winner, Srikanth entered the next rounds after his opponent Fabian Roth retired from the match after trailing at 3-0. While in women’s singles, Saina and Sindhu beat Line Højmark of Denmark and Beatriz Corrales of Spain with 21-14, 11-21, 21-10 and 21-19, 21-18 respectively.

In men’s doubles, Manu Atri with Sumeeth Reddy suffered the loss of 21-11, 21-13 against Vladimir Ivanov and Ivan Sozonov of Russia, while Satwiksairaj and Chirag Shetty defeated Bastian Kersaudy and Julien Maio of France with 21-12, 21-14.