Swiss Open: Sindhu storms into quarters, Prannoy books Kashyap clash

PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth entered the third round while men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty suffered a shock defeat at the ongoing Swiss Open being played at St. Jakobshalle, in Basel, on Thursday.

India's ace shuttler PV Sindhu thrashed Neslihan Yigit in straight games to storm past into the third round of Super 300 tournament. The second-seed double Olympic medallist defeated the player from Turkey by 21-19, 21-14 in 42 minutes

World Championships silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth staved off a spirited challenge from France's Christo Popov to progress to the men's singles quarterfinals of the Swiss Open Super 300 tournament, in Basel, on Thursday.

World no 12 Srikanth, who had missed India leg of the BWF tour in January after testing positive for COVID-19, eked out a fighting 13-21, 25-23, 21-11 win over Popov, ranked 60th, in a second-round match that lasted an hour and 13 minutes.

The seventh seeded Indian will face second seeded Dane Anders Antonsen next.

The other Indian in men's singles, HS Prannoy also rallied to defeat his opponent to reach the next round in Basel. Prannoy defeated Kalle Koljonen in three games by 19-21, 21-13, 21-9 in 56 minutes. With this victory, Prannoy booked an all-Indian clash with Parupalli Kashyap, who received a walkover after World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen withdrew from the tournament.

This will be the first meeting between the Prannoy and Kashyap on the BWF circuit since 2017.

Third seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, however, lost 19-21, 20-22 to Indonesian pairing of Pramudya Kusumawardana and Yeremia Erich Yoche Yacob Rambitan in the men's doubles.

In the women's singles, Ashmita Chaliha put up a tough fight before going down 18-21, 20-22 to eighth seeded Scot Kirsty Gilmour in the second round.

Also progressing was the women's doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy, who got the better of local pair Aline Muller and Jenjira Stadelmann 21-15, 21-16 in straight games.