Hylo Open 2021: Kidambi Srikanth sails into second round; Saurabh Verma gets walkover but HS Prannoy ousted

Saarbrucken: Top Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth sailed into the second round of men’s singles with a comfortable straight game win over Japan’s Koki Watanabe in the HYLO Open Super 500 tournament here on Wednesday. Sixth seed Srikanth subdued Watanabe 21-15 21-10 in 32 minutes. However, HS Prannoy made a first round exit while compatriot Sourabh Verma advanced to the pre-quarterfinals after receiving a walkover in the tournament that was formerly known as SaarLorLux Open. Prannoy went down 21-16, 17-21, 7-21 to lower ranked Irish shuttler Nhat Nguyen in the men’s singles match that lasted 57 minutes. Verma, on the other hand, received a walkover in his first round match against Max Weisskirchen of Germany. The reason for the German’s withdrawal was not known. Verma will face the winner of the match between Canadian Brian Young and eight seed Kantaphon Wangcharoen of Thailand in the round of 16. Srikanth showed signs of returning to form last week as he put up a spirited fight against two-time world champion Kento Momota of Japan before losing in the French Open second round. Later in the day, Subhankar Dey locks horns with Lee Dong Keun of South Korea. In the women’s singles, Aakarshi Kashyap will play Neslihan Yigit of Turkey in her opening round match.