Singapore Open: Sindhu faces tough test against Carolina; Prannoy, Treesa-Gayatri to feature in pre-quarters

KALLANG: Indian shuttler and two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu, world championships bronze medalist HS Prannoy and the women's doubles duo of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand will play in the pre-quarterfinals round of the ongoing Singapore Open tournament on Thursday.

Sindhu earned her spot in the pre-quarters by defeating world No. 21 Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt of Denmark 21-12, 22-20.

Following the first-round victory in 44 minutes, Sindhu will face former Olympic champion and rival Carolina Marin of Spain in the second round.

The two shuttlers famously faced each other in the final of the Rio 2016 Olympics where Marin had the last laugh. The Spaniard, seeded third, also enjoys an 11-6 head-to-head record against the Indian badminton player. The last time Sindhu and Marin met each other was in the semi-final of the Denmark Open 2023, where Carolina won 21-18, 19-21, 21-7.

Prannoy marched his way into the round of 16 with a win over world No. 45 Julien Carraggi of Belgium 21-9, 18-21, 21-9 in a match that lasted 55 minutes.

Eighth-seeded Prannoy will next lock horns with world No. 11 Kenta Nishimoto of Japan in the second round.

Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand made the second round of the women's doubles after securing a comfortable 21-7, 21-14 win over Cheng Yu-Pei and Sun Yu Hsing of Chinese Taipei in 27 minutes. They will face second seeds Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee of the Republic of Korea in the next round.

The Commonwealth Games champion, Lakshya Sen was up against reigning Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark and lost 21-13, 16-21, 21-13. The world No. 14 Indian played well enough to force a decider but fell short against the top seed.

Meanwhile, Kidambi Srikanth lost 14-21, and 3-11 against Japan's Kodai Naraoka after the Indian opted to walk over after suffering an injury. The game lasted for only 31 minutes.

Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa, however, suffered a first-round exit after losing to Polina Buhrova and Yevheniia Kantemyr of Ukraine by an 18-21, 21-19, 21-19 scoreline.

Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker have also been eliminated from the Singapore Open 2024 after a 21-12, 21-12 loss to eighth seeds Apriyani Rahayu and Sitti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti of Indonesia.

The men's doubles duo of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Sai Pratheek K were unable to defeat second seeds Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang of the People's Republic of China. They fell 21-16 and 24-22 in 41 minutes.

In mixed doubles, India's SK Karunakaran-Aadya Variath fell 21-15, 18-21, 21-11 to China's Guo Xin Wa-Chen Fang Hui after 51 minutes of play. B Sumeeth Reddy-Sikki Reddy were defeated 21-18, 21-19 by Malaysians Goh Soon Huat-Lai Shevon Jemie, while Danish pair Mads

Vestergaard-Christine Busch easily defeated Venkat Gaurav Prasad-Juhi Dewangan 21-8, 21-8 in just 19 minutes.

Earlier on Tuesday, the world's number 1 badminton duo Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy suffered a shocking early exit in the men's doubles first round of the Singapore Open 2024.

Chirag and Satwik fell short against the 34th-ranked Danish pair of Daniel Lundgaard and Mads Vestergaard. In a contest that lasted for 47 minutes, the Indian pair lost the game in two straight sets by a scoreline of 20-22, 18-21.