Badminton
US Open: Sankar Muthusamy beats World No 32, Sai Praneeth runs World No 7 close
US Open Super 300: PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen both won their 1st round matches, but the real thrilling action was elsewhere.
Sankar Muthusamy (BWF)
PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen won their matches in the first round of the US Open Super 300 event, but the real action was elsewhere on Wednesday night.
The young Sankar Muthusamy claimed the biggest win of his career by beating world No 32 Nhat Nguyen. The former junior world No.1 has now made the main draw at two successive Super 300s – last month’s Taipei Open and now YONEX US Open 2023.
“I don’t look or plan too far ahead. I work in blocks, my focus now is the next six months. Only with short-term goals you can make it long term,” the 19-year-old left hander told BWF.
A little later, an even bigger shock was in store when Sai Praneeth led second seed and world rank 7 Li Shi Feng 18-13 in the third game of their singles match.
However, the dream was not to be for the veteran, as he lost 21-16, 14-21, 19-21 in a 74-minute encounter.
Lakshya Sen began his US Open campaign with a comfortable 21-8, 21-16 win over Finland’s Kalle Koljonen. He will next face Jan Louda in the second round. If both Lakshya and Sankar win their matches on Thursday, they will be up against each other in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Third seed PV Sindhu began her campaign with a straight-games win over American qualifier Disha Gupta.
