Newly-crowned China Open champion Kidambi Srikanth continued his giant-killing spree, while teen sensation P.V. Sindhu too started her campaign on a winning note at the USD 350,000 Hong Kong Super Series in Kowloon here on Wednesday.
Srikanth, who had stunned five-time world champion Lin Dan in the China Open final last week to become the first male shuttler to win a Super Series Premier event, shocked seventh seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei 18—21 22—20 21—16 in his men’s singles campaign opener.
Seventh seed Sindhu, who had skipped the China Open, notched up a thrilling 21—15 16—21 21—19 win over Thailand’s Busanan Ongbumrungpan in a women’s singles match that lasted 52 minutes.
Ajay Jayaram, who had won Dutch Open Grand Prix last month, proved no match for top seed Chen Long of China as he went down 13—21 7—21 in another men’s singles match.
However, it was curtains for the men’s and women’s doubles pairs as they suffered contrasting defeats to bow out of the competition.
While 2011 World Championship bronze medallists, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa fought bravely before going down 21—16 14—21 21—23 to Malaysian pair of Yin Loo Lim and Lee Meng Yean in women’s doubles, men’s combination of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy went down 15—21 17—21 to second seeds Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia.
