French Open: PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth Win, HS Prannoy Loses In Opener

A determined PV Sindhu advanced to the women's singles second round after grinding out a three-game win over Canada's Michelle Li at French Open Super 750 badminton tournament here on Wednesday. Sindhu, a double Olympic medallist, faced stiff competition from former world no. 8 Li but she managed to eke out a come-from-behind 20-22 22-20 21-19 win in a riveting opening round match that lasted an hour and 20 minutes at the Arena Porte de la Chapelle here. Kidambi Srikanth too progressed to the men's singles second round with a stunning win over Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen but HS Prannoy fell short to make an early exit.

The world No. 24 Srikanth, who is racing against time to qualify for the Paris Olympics, outwitted 14th-ranked Chen 21-15, 20-22, 21-8 in a 66-minute opening round match for his third win over the Taiwanese shuttler in seven meetings.

In the next round, the 2021 world championships silver medallist Srikanth will fight it out against China's world No. 17 Lu Guang Zu, who ended the campaign of Prannoy with a fine 21-17, 21-17 win at the adjacent court.

For Sindhu, who is playing only her second tournament since returning from a knee injury that she suffered in October last year in the same event, it was her 10th win over Li in 13 meetings.

For most part of the match, Sindhu, who had lost her most recent meeting to Li at the Thailand Open in May last year, was still searching for her 'A' game as she kept fighting.

Li's attack worked for most part of the first half of the match with good shot quality at the mid court region. But Sindhu slowly grew in confidence as she fought from 13-17 down after losing the opening game to pocket the second game.

While Sindhu took time to get used to the conditions, Li was right on the money from the start, playing a wide variety of shots during the short and snappy rallies. The Canadian held 11-7 lead at the first break.