India’s Srikanth Kidambi made his way to the men’s singles round of 16 at the Denmark Open Super 750 badminton tournament with a come-from-behind win against Ng Ka Long Angus in Odense on Tuesday.
In the only other match featuring Indians on the opening day, the women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also registered a victory to advance to the round of 16 stage, but did so in straight games.
Srikanth entered the match against Ng Ka Long with a 3-3 head-to-head record against the player from Hong Kong. After a good start for the latter, the Indian tried to mount a comeback towards the end of the first game but went down 17-21.
Ng Ka Long worked his way to a strong position to close out the match at 10-8 in the second game, but from there on Srikanth upped his level to stage a remarkable comeback. The 29-year-old took the second game 21-14 before winning the decider 21-12 to close out the match.
Srikanth will face Singaporean world No 5 Loh Kean Yew next in what will be the rematch of the 2021 World Championships final where the Singaporean win gold. The H2H is 1-1.
Treesa and Gayatri, meanwhile, took a much smoother route to the next round with a straight-games win against the home pairing of Amalie Magelund and Alexandra Boje.
The Indian teenagers, who won bronze at the Commonwealth Games earlier this year, defeated the pair of players who have been in the top 30 (with different partners) 21-15, 21-15 on the back of an efficient performance.
Treesa and Gayatri will face sixth seeds Rawinda Prajongjai and Jongkolphan Kititharakul from Thailand next.
The second round matches take place on Thursday.
Rest of the Indian contingent play their first round matches on Wednesday, which includes a fascinating opening round clash between Lakshya Sen and Anthony Ginting. Full schedule available here.
Denmark Open Super 750: Lakshya Sen, Satwik-Chirag headline India’s charge as BWF World Tour resumes