French Open 2024: PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth advance to second round; HS Prannoy bows out

Sindhu defeated Canadian Michelle Li to enter the pre-quarterfinals.

Two-time Olympic medallists PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth opened their respective campaigns at the BWF French Open 2024 with wins, but it was curtains for World Championships bronze medallist HS Prannoy in the opening round at the Porte de la Chapelle Arena, where the badminton events are also set to take place during Paris Olympics 2024 later this year.

Sindhu, who led India to a historic first-ever Badminton Asia Team Championships title last month, defeated Canada’s Michelle Li in a marathon three-game clash while Srikanth saw-off Chou Tien Chen in another thriller. Prannoy went down in straight games to Lu Guang Zu of China.

Playing her only second tournament since returning from a knee injury that kept her out since October last year, Sindhu lost the opening game 20-22 and then trailed 6-11 at the mid-game interval of the second game. That extended to 6-13 before the World No. 11 recovered to win the game 22-20 and force a decider.

She had also been trailing in the mid-game interval of the first game but had mounted a comeback from 7-11 down to lead 12-11 and looked to pocket it before Li fought back to take the game 22-20 in 26 minutes.

In the decider, Sindhu raced to a 11-7 lead before the WR-24 Canadian pushed back to level the scores at 13-all before going ahead 18-17, but Sindhu held on to eventually win the decider 21-19 and advance to the pre-quarterfinals.

Sindhu will next meet USA’s World No. 10 Beiwen Zhang, who beat former Olympic champion Carolina Marin 14-21, 21-16, 21-17 to progress to round of 16.

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Earlier in the day, Kidambi Srikanth got the better of Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen in his first round clash. Srikanth, a former French Open champion, beat the 14th-ranked Chen 21-15, 20-22, 21-8 to move ahead.

Meanwhile, World No. 7 Prannoy crashed out after falling short against Lu Guang Zu of China. Prannoy, who has now bowed out of the opening round in each of this last three tournaments, went down in straight games 17-21, 17-21. Guang will next face Srikanth for a place in the quarterfinals.

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