Paris [France]: Ace Indian shuttler H S Prannoy kicked off his campaign at the French Open Super Series with a straight games win over Korea’s Lee Hyun Il in the men’s singles event here on Wednesday.
The 25-year-old remained dominated throughout the match as he clinched a comfortable 21-15, 21-17 win over Hyun Il in a one-sided men’s singles match that lasted 43 minutes.
Prannoy will now cross swords with Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus of Denmark for a place in the quarter-finals.
In another men’s singles clash, B. Sai Praneeth also made it to second round after struggling past Khosit Phetpradab of Thailand in the opening round.
After comfortably winning the first game, Praneeth went down in the second before he rebounded strongly to clinch a 21-13, 21-23, 21-19 triumph over his Thai opponent in a clash that lasted one hour and five minutes.
He will now take on either Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto or seventh-seed Lee Chong Wei of Thailand in the second round.
Later in the day, Kidambi Srikanth will look forward to win his consecutive Super Series title after grabbing the Denmark Open last week when he takes on 45th-ranked Fabian Roth of Germany in the first round.
Meanwhile, Rio Olympics and World Championship silver-medalist P.V. Sindhu will lock horns with Beatriz Corrales of Spain in women’s singles, while London Olympics bronze-medallist Saina Nehwal will face Danish Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt.(ANI)