Indian singles shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth advanced to the second round of the 2024 French Open Super 750 in Paris with hard-fought wins in their respective matches on Wednesday. However, World Championship bronze medallist HS Prannoy was knocked out.

Sindhu, who helped India to their first-ever Badminton Asia Team Championships title last month, beat Canada’s Michelle Li 20-22, 22-20, 21-19. While Srikanth beat Chou Tien Chen 21-15, 20-22, 21-8, Prannoy lost 21-17, 21-17 to Lu Guang Zu.

In what was her return to the BWF World Tour, double Olympic medallist Sindhu had to grind out for an hour and 20 minutes to enter the second round at the Arena Porte de la Chapelle – the venue where the badminton events will be held during the Paris Olympics later this year.

Sindhu was pushed on the backfoot early on in the opening game and found herself trailing 7-11 at the mid-game interval. The 28-year-old, however, found some momentum right after the break as she won five points in a row to lead 12-11.

In the latter stages it looked as if Sindhu will pocket the opening game, but Li fought back to win it 22-20 in 26 minutes.

The second game was no different as the former world champion trailed 6-11 at the mid-game interval. Sindhu then trailed by six points at 6-13, but found her rhythm under pressure to win it 22-20 and force a decider.

Unlike the opening two games, Sindhu called the shots in the final game as she raced to an 11-7 lead before the changes of sides. Li mounted a comeback of her own, but the Indian prevailed 21-19 to move into the pre-quarterfinals.

Earlier in the day, Kidambi Srikanth got the better of Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei 21-15, 20-22, 21-8 to advance further in the competiton.

The Indian dominated the proceedings through out the match and looked comfortable to seal the match in straight games but completely lost the momentum late in the second game to lose it 20-22 as Chou forced a decider.

The Chinese Taipei shuttler was no match to Srikanth in the final game as he coasted along to win it 21-8 to wrap up the match in 66 minutes.

HS Prannoy exits

World No 7 Prannoy looked far from his best against a lower-ranked opponent as he went down in straight games.

The loss now means that Prannoy is yet to beat Lu in a World Tour match. The two players have faced off on three occasions so far and the Indian has lost all three matches.

While the first two matches were tough battles which lasted 88 and 84 minutes respectively, the loss on Wednesday was a rather tame one for Prannoy.

Sindhu, Srikanth will be in action on Thursday along with the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, and Lakshya Sen.