Swiss Open: Kidambi Srikanth, Parupalli Kashyap enter quarter-finals; Satwik-Chirag pair bow out

Basel: World Championships silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth staved off a spirited challenge from France’s Christo Popov to progress to the men’s singles quarter-finals of the Swiss Open Super 300 tournament in Basel on Thursday.

World No 12 Srikanth, who had missed India leg of the BWF tour in January after testing positive for COVID-19, eked out a fighting 13-21 25-23 21-11 win over Popov, ranked 60th, in a second-round match that lasted an hour and 13 minutes.

The seventh seeded Indian will face second seeded Dane Anders Antonsen next.

Former Commonwealth Games gold medallist Parupalli Kashyap too entered the quarter-finals after top seed and Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen gave a walkover.

Third seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, however, lost 19-21 20-22 to Indonesian pairing of Pramudya Kusumawardana and Yeremia Erich Yoche Yacob Rambitan in the men’s doubles.

Also exiting was Saina Nehwal after losing her women’s singles second round to lower-ranked Kisona Selvaduray of Malaysia. The 23rd-ranked Indian could not maintain the consistency she showed in the first game to lose 21-17, 13-21, 13-21 against her 64th-ranked opponent.

In other women’s singles matches, Ashmita Chaliha put up a tough fight before going down 18-21 20-22 to eighth seeded Scot Kirsty Gilmour in the second round.

On Wednesday night, Sindhu had entered the second round with a 21-14 21-12 win over Denmark’s Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt.

Sindhu, also a former world champion, will face Neslihan Yigit of Turkey late in the day.

Also progressing was the women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy, who got the better of local pair Aline Muller and Jenjira Stadelmann 21-15 21-16 in straight games.

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