Australia Open: Sindhu, Srikanth, Prannoy advance to round of 16

SYDNEY: Indian badminton ace PV Sindhu advanced to the second round of the Australia Open after registering win in her women's singles match at the State Sports Centre, here on Wednesday.

Sindhu, who has been struggling for form this year, defeated compatriot Ashmita Chaliha 21-18, 21-13 to make the women's singles round of 16.

She will face another compatriot Aakarshi Kashyap, who made it to the second round with a 21-15, 21-17 win over Malaysia's world No. 34 Goh Jin Wei.

In the men's singles, Srikanth beat world No. 14 Japanese shuttler Kenta Nishimoto of Japan 21-18, 21-7. He will play Su Li Yang of Chinese Taipei in the second round on Thursday.

Prannoy, India's highest-ranked singles shuttler, fended off a challenge from world No. 15 Lee Cheuk Yiu from Hong Kong to win 21-18, 16-21, 21-15.

The world no. 9 Indian will next take on Chinese Taipei's Chi Yu Jen.

Meanwhile, the 2021 world championships bronze medallist Lakshya Sen retired mid-way into his first-round match against countryman Kiran George.

Mithun Manjunath, however, registered a shock 21-19, 21-19 straight-games win over former world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore.

Priyanshu Rajawat also advanced to the second round after beating local shuttler Nathan Tang 21-12, 21-16 in 33 minutes and set up a second round clash against Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei.

India's challenge in the mixed doubles ended after BS Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa and Rohan Kapoor and N Sikki Reddy lost their respective opening round matches.

Reddy and Ashwini lost to the Japanese pair of Hiroki Midorikawa and Natsu Saito 13-21, 12-21 while Rohan and Sikki were beaten by Korean pair Seo Seungjae and Chae Yujung 14-21, 18-21.