K. Srikanth advanced to the second round of the World badminton championships with a straight-game win over Russian Sergey Sirant as the competition got underway here on Monday.
The eighth-seeded Indian, who won the Indonesia Super Series Premier and Australian Super series Open in June, defeated the Russian 21-13, 21-12 in less than 30 minutes. The World No. 8 will next take on France’s Lucas Corvee.
It was a nervy start for Srikanth, as he missed few points, but his smart play at net and some precise smashes helped the Indian to enter the break at 11-6. After the interval, the Indian kept increasing the lead, reaching 15-7 before taking the opening game.
After some initial dues, Srikanth zoomed ahead to lead 11-5 in the second game. The duo engaged in some exciting rallies briefly but the Indian was always ahead. Srikanth, who held a comfortable eight match-points advantage, sealed the opener when his rival hit the net.
The mixed doubles combine of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and K. Maneesha got past the Hong Kong pair of Chun Hein Tam and Tsz Yau Ng 24-22, 21-17 in 44 minutes.