Swiss Open: Kidambi Srikanth, Satwiksairaj-Ashwini pair through to quarter-finals; Saina Nehwal ousted – Sports News , Firstpost

File image of Kidambi Srikanth. AFP

Basel: Former men’s singles champion Kidambi Srikanth and the mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa progressed to the quarter-finals of the Swiss Open Super 300 badminton tournament on Thursday.

While fourth seed Srikanth, who had won the title in 2015, notched up a 21-10, 14-21, 21-14 victory over World No 50 Thomas Rouxel of France, the World No 19 pair of Satwik and Ashwini defeated the Indonesian combination of Rinov Rivaldy and Pitha Haningtyas Mentari 21-18 21-16 in another second-round match.

Srikanth, a former World No 1, will face either sixth seeded Thai Kantaphon Wangcharoen or Netherland’s Mark Caljouw in the last-eight stage.

Satwik and Ashwini, who reached the semi-finals at Toyota Thailand Open Super 1000 in January, will meet the winner of the match between fifth-seeded Malaysians Tan Kian Meng and Lai Pei Jing and Germany’s Jones Ralfy Jansen and Kilasu Ostermeyer.

Earlier, two-time former champion Saina Nehwal bowed out of the tournament after a hard-fought first-round loss in the women’s singles opening round on Wednesday night.

The London Olympic bronze-medallist battled for 58 minutes before going down 16-21, 21-17, 21-23 to Phittayaporn Chaiwan of Thailand.

The other Indian in the event, PV Sindhu, however, entered the round of 16 by beating Yigit Neslihan of Turkey 21-16, 21-19 in her first-round match.

The second-seeded Sindhu will face Iris Wang of USA in her Round of 16 match later on Thursday.