India’s HS Prannoy defeated compatriot Lakshya Sen in straight games to reach the second round of the Indonesia Open Super 1000 event at the Istoran Senayan in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Also progressing into the second round was the men’s doubles pairing of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila. But it was once again a mixed day for Indian shuttlers overall, as Srikanth Kidambi lost in straight games against world No 41 Brice Leverdez.
Prannoy will next face Ng Ka Long Angus while Dhruv-Arjun will take on China’s Liu Yu Chen and Ou Xuan Yi, the pair that stunned second seeds Ahsan-Setiawan earlier in the day.
Prannoy trailed the head-to-head 0-2 on the international circuit heading into the match, with both those wins by Lakshya coming earlier this year. But the senior pro produced a solid performance to win 21-10, 21-9 in 34 minutes.
Lakshya, seeded eighth, had a 6-3 lead in the first game but it was all Prannoy thereafter. The 29-year-old gained confidence as the match progressed, dictating points as Lakshya struggled to find rhythm.
The two played key roles in India’s recent Thomas Cup triumph and their match on Wednesday was expected to be a tight contest. But once Prannoy got his nose ahead in the first half of the opener, the 20-year-old couldn’t quite fight back despite some flashes of brilliance.
Indonesia Open Super 1000: Sindhu bows out in the opening round; Sameer, Ashwini-Sikki progress
Earlier in the day, MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila also advanced with a hard-fought 27-25, 18-21, 21-19 victory against Japan’s Keiichiro Matsui and Yoshinori Takeuchi in the men’s doubles round of 32. The match lasted an hour and 23 minutes and it was the Indian pair that prevailed on the back of a gritty performance against the world No 30 pair.
Arjun-Dhruv were in command of the opening game at 17-10 but the Japanese fought back strongly, and both pairs saw game points come and go in an epic opener. Eventually the Indians won that 27-25. The second game too was a close one but Takeuchi-Matsui kept their opponents at an arm’s length in the second half and forced the decider.
The third game was also a gruelling back-and-forth battle and it took a couple of superb points from the Indians at the back-end to wrestle back the momentum. In the end, the Japanese duo let the shuttle drop in between them and sunk to the court in disbelief at a bizarre error while the Indians screamed in delight. They have had issues closing out tight games against higher-ranked pairs in the past but this was a case of holding their nerves.
In women’s doubles, India’s Ashwini Bhat and Shikha Gautam lost 9-21, 10-21 in the round of 32 against China’s Zheng Yu and Zhang Shu Xian.
Ashna Roy and Haritha Manazhiyil Harinarayanan also went down in their women’s doubles opener, with Korea’s Jeong Na Eun and Kim Hye Jeong winning 21-9, 21-8 in 25 minutes.
With Sindhu and Lakshya already losing, perhaps India’s best bet at the tournament was Srikanth but he suffered an upset defeat against French veteran Leverdez, who had lost five times in previous matches against the Indian. Srikanth started off well, went into a 7-3 lead early on but the Frenchman dragged things back, leading 11-10 at the break. Srikanth seemed to have steadied things and led 17-13, then 19-14, then 20-18, but Leverdez fought back each time and capitalised on some errors from the Indian to take the opening game 23-21.
The second game was a trainwreck for Srikanth, perhaps trying too hard to force the issue and going for winners that led to even more errors. Any hopes of a fightback were quickly ended by Leverdez, who rode on the momentum to close things out in quick time.
Here’s a look at the Indians who will be in round of 16 action on Thursday:
