Pranaav-Sikki breaks the opening at the German Open

Indian mixed doubles pair Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy breaks the main draw at the German Open, the USD 150,000 World Tour Super 300 Tournament on Wednesday.

The duo defeated Chang Ko-Chi and Cheng Chi Ya of Taipei with 24-22, 17-21, 21-19 in 58 minutes.

The Indian duo had a close call in the first game; after exchanging the upper hands, Pranaav and Sikki pair led with two points by the half-time but lost the stride later. By winning three straight points at 15-18, they parred the score at 18-18 and managed to save the first game with 24-22.

After switching the sides, Pranaav and Sikki grabbed the early lead at 2-0 and continued to surge maintaining the huge gap of 7 points at 17-10. Chang-Cheng won straight 11 points and threw the match to the decider. The third match was a tough neck-to-neck challenge, which was eventually sealed by Pranaav and Sikki.

Later, men’s doubles pair Arjun M. R. and Ramachandra Shlok lost to the top seeded Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda of Japan with 13-21, 18-21

In the first game, the opponents exchanged the leads till 3-3, from where the Japanese pair maintained the lead. The Indians were trailing by four points to the Japanese advantage and lost the game with 13-21.

The second game also scripted the similar play, wherein, the opponents parred the score till 4-4. The Japanese scored five straight points to increase the gap with 9-4 and were by 2 points advantage by the break. Later, the Indians managed scoring four more points, yet trailed by 13-19. The Indians gather some good stride and saved four consecutive points to reduce the gap to 17-19 and later one more point before losing with 18-21.

Another men’s doubles pair, Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy will be seen playing against the Danish shuttlers Kasper Antonsen and Niclas Nohr.

Meanwhile, the only singles Indian player at the tournament, Subhankar Dey, will be seen playing against the sixteenth ranked Wong Wing Ki Vincent of Hong Kong in the main draw.

The six-day long tournament will have its finals on March 11.