Defending champion PV Sindhu, World No. 3 Kidambi Srikanth, Olympic champion Carolina Marin, and Saina Nehwal led the star prade into the second round by recording straight-games victories in the Yonex-Sunrise India Open 2018, at the Siri Fort Complex, New Delhi on Wednesday.

However fifth seed HS Prannoy, hobbled out of the tournament, losing to qualifier Shreyansh Jaiswal 21-4, 21-6. Battling foot corns, he struggled to get his game going and barely put up a fight. For Shreyansh, though, it was a new high, entering the second round of the tournament for the first time.

Shreyansh will run into another compatriot Parupalli Kashyap, in the second round. Kashyap defeated Dane Hans-Kristian Vittinghus 21-14, 21-18. Thailand’s superstar Ratchnaok Intanon impressed in the women’s singles while third seed Chou Tien Chen from Chinese Taipei and fourth seed Shi Yuqi from China looked good during their first round outings in the men’s singles.

Sindhu downed Denmark’s Natalia Rohde 21-10, 21-13 and believed the good start augurs well for her. “With the confidence of this victory, I hope to go further ahead in the tournament,” she said.
The top seed will meet Linda Zetchiri in the next round after the Bulgarian defeated Vaidehi Choudhari 21-19, 21-15.

Fourth seed Saina cruised past Sofie Holmboe Dahl (Den) 21-15, 21-9,while Spain’s Carolina Marin upstaged Thailand’s Mattana Hemrachatanun whom she dispatched off 21-15, 21-11 while. Saina was delighted to cross a tricky hurdle. “Danish players are always tricky and so you have to keep trying new things against them. I am looking to learn new things,” she said.

The former World No. 1 will face another Danish player, Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt, in the second round.

In the men’s section, second seed Srikanth, who is making a comeback after an injury layoff, got past Hong Hong’s Lee Cheuk Yiu 21-17, 21-18. The 24-year-old, who had a dream run in the 2017 season winning four titles out of the five finals he played, was content with his form and fitness.

“I have a tough draw and keeping in mind my recent form, I really want to focus on getting back the momentum first,” he said. Srikant next meets qualifier Isqandar Zulkarnain of Malaysia, who upset Denmark’s Emil Holst 21-15, 21-17.

Chou Tien defeated Rasmus Gemke of Denmark 21-16, 21-15; Shi Yuqi went past Sourab Verma 21-19, 21-11 while eighth seed Sai Praneeth got the better of England’s Rajeev Ouseph 21-11, 17-21, 21-17 in the other men’s singles featuring the seeded players. Top seeds in the men’s double Indonesia’s Marcus Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya and women’s doubles star pair of Kamilla Rytter Juhl/Christinna Pedersen from Denmark also made it to the second round with ease.

India’s mixed doubles pairings of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Ashwini Ponappa, Pranaav Jerry Chopra/Sikki Reddy and Rohan Kapoor/Kuhoo Garg also headed into the next round. Satwiksairaj and Ashwini did well with their men’s and women’s doubles partners too by advancing to the second round.