US Open: S. Sankar Muthuswamy qualifies for main draw

Young Indian shuttler S. Sankar Muthuswamy won both games in the qualifying round to qualify for the main draw of the US Open on Tuesday night.

Seeded second in the qualification round, Muthuswamy came up against Davi Silva of Brazil in the first game and made light work of the Brazilian to win 21-17, 21-11.

Davi showed some resistance in the first game, going toe-to-toe with the Indian, but Muthuswamy held on to his nerves to clinch the first game. In the second game, Muthuswamy hardly gave any chance to the Brazilian and won the game 21-11 with rather ease.

In the second match of the qualification round, Muthuswamy was up against B.R. Sankeerth of Canada, and he again won in straight games 21-11, 21-17 to secure his place in the main draw.

Muthuswamy will play against eight-seeded Nhat Nguyen of Ireland in the main draw today.

While Muthuswamy made his way to the main draw, Indian veteran Parupalli Kashyap had an unfortunate end to his campaign. Kashyap had to retire in his second game of qualification against Koo Takahashi of Japan.

Kashyap started well with a win against Rohan Midha of Canada by 21-19, 21-17 but was forced to retire in the second match against the Japanese shuttler, where he was trailing by 23-21, 11-7.

Other Indians in the hunt, the men's doubles pair of Krishan Prasad and Vishnuavardhan Goud, lost the first game 21-14, 21-14 and were knocked out.

Among other Indians, PV Sindhu will start her campaign against Disha Gupta of the USA, while Lakshya Sen will take on Kalle Koljonen of Finland in the first round.

B Sai Praneeth will be up against All England champion Li Shi Feng in the first round.