Korea Open 2022, Day 2: PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth get off to winning starts

Making a no-nonsense start to their campaign at the Korea Open 2022, top Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth registered emphatic wins in their first-round clashes to enter the pre-quarters of the BWF Super 500 tournament at the Palma Stadium, Suncheon.

After a dismal first day where only Lakshya Sen and an inspired Malvika Bansod got the better of their opponents, while other Indian shuttlers, including veteran HS Prannoy, lost, things looked better on Day 2 with Sindhu and Srikanth getting easy wins.

PV Sindhu, fresh off her Swiss Open victory - the second Super 300 title of the year for her, dominated America's Lauren Lam in their first-round encounter, 21-15, 21-14 in a 34-minute affair. Meeting for the first time in their career, the third-seeded Sindhu did not have too much trouble staving off the challenges thrown by her World No. 70 opponent and swiftly entered the second round.

On the other hand, World Championships silver medallist shuttler Kidambi Srikanth side-stepped World No. 35 Malaysian Liew Daren and got his first victory against him. So far, Daren had won all their previous three encounters but the fifth-seeded Indian finally registered a victory against him, winning a tight encounter, 22-20, 21-11 in 40-minutes.

In the doubles, the men's duo of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila received a walkover from Ba Da Kim and Hee Young Park while in the mixed, the duo of Ashwini Ponnappa and B. Sumeeth Reddy also progressed into the next round after defeating Jun Liang Andy Kwek and Yujia Jin, 21-19, 21-18.

The dynamic doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also had a comfortable start to their campaign as the third-seeded pair defeated Tae Yang Shin and Wang Chan, 21-16, 21-15 in a straight games affair.

The only loss of the day came in women's singles where Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli lost to second-seeded Korean sensation An Seyoung, 21-5, 21-13 to crash out of the Korea Open 2022.