French Open 2023: Kidambi Srikanth, Lakshya Sen make opening round exit

Both Indian shuttlers went down in straight games against French opponents.

India's star shuttlers, Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen, faced disappointment in the ongoing French Open 2023 Super 750 tournament as they exited the competition following defeates in men's singles matches on Wednesday.

The opening match featuring an Indian at the Glaz Arena on Wednesday involved Kidambi Srikanth who went down against Toma Junior Popov of France. Srikanth lost the round of 32 encounter with a score of 17-21, 15-21 in just 44 minutes. Local shuttler, Popov, managed a convincing win, capitalizing on Srikanth's mistakes despite the Indian enjoying a 3-1 lead in their head-to-head record.

Srikanth initially looked in form but gave away several points through unforced errors. The former World No.1 held the lead in the mid-game interval of the opening game and was in fray till 16-17 but went on to lose out by 17-21. In second game, he trailed from the very start and ended up losing by 15-21.

Lakshya Sen, who was the only other Indian in action, also bowed out after losing 15-21, 18-21 to Arnaud Merkle, another French player. Notably, Merkle had lost to Lakshya Sen in 2016 — their only other meeting — when they were both competing in junior tournaments.

Their first BWF World Tour meeting saw Lakshya Sen lose in 55 minutes. Despite a brief comeback attempt in the second game, he couldn't secure a win. In the opening game, despite being level at 11-11, Sen went down 15-21 looking a seemingly pale shadow of himself.

He did try and make a comeback in the second game and was leading 17-14 at one point, but eventually lost out 18-21 to exit from the opening round in Rennes.

It was a challenging day for India, with both established stars suffering straight-game defeats. Both Srikanth and Sen had also made early exits at the Denmark Open last week. Only PV Sindhu and Satwik-Chirag, who advanced to pre-quarters, are the remaining Indians at the French Open 2023.