Denmark Open: Sindhu, Sai Praneeth enter second round

World Champion P V Sindhu made an impressive start to her campaign at the Denmark Open, claiming a straight-game win over Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in the women’s singles competition here on Tuesday.

Fifth seed Sindhu, who had made early exits in China and Korea, got back her bearing as she overcame former World Junior Champion Gregoria 22-20 21-18 in 38 minutes to keep her 5-0 record intact against the Indonesian.

The Olympic silver medallist will now face Korea’s An Se Young next.

World Championships bronze medallist B Sai Praneeth also made it to the second round beating the legendary Lin Dan 21-14 21-17 in a 35-minute opening round clash.

The Hyderabad shuttler is likely to meet world no 1 and two-time world champion Kento Momota of Japan next. He had lost to Momota at the World Championships in Basel, Switzerland. Thailand Open champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also made a good start to their men’s doubles campaign, beating Korean pair of Kim Gi Jung and Lee Yong Dae 24-22 21-11 in 39 minutes.

Former Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap, who had reached the semifinals at Korea Open, failed to cross the opening round after losing 13-21 12-21 to Thailand’s Sitthikom Thammasin in the men’s singles.

National champion Sourabh Verma, who had clinched the Hyderabad Open and Vietnam Open this year, also made an early exit after going down 21-19 11-21 17-21 to Mark Caljouw of the Netherlands.