US Open badminton: Tanvi, Srikanth advance

World Junior Championship silver-medallist Tanvi Sharma and the seasoned Kidambi Srikanth began their US Open badminton campaign with comfortable wins at Fullerton.

Tanvi defeated Yvonne Li of Germany 23-21, 21-16, while Devika Sihag, who is the reigning Thailand Masters champion, beat Ines Lucia Castillo of Peru 21-14, 21-14 in the women’s singles first round on Wednesday. In the first of the two all-Indian men’s clashes, the promising Rounak Chouhan defeated former world junior silver-medallist S Sankar Muthusamy 23-21, 21-16.

Fifth seed Kidambi Srikanth dominated the match against compatriot D Saneeth, winning 21-14, 21-12 in just 30 minutes. Rakshitha Sree also entered the next round with a 21-15, 21-8 victory over Tereza Svabikova of the Czech Republic.