Lagatar24 Desk
Basel, March 24: PV Sindhu and Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy of the women’s doubles team advanced to the second round of the Swiss Open, whereas MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila of the men’s doubles team fell in the first round at St. Jakobshalle.
Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medalist, advanced to the second round of the women’s singles after defeating Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt of Denmark 21-14, 21-12. The Hyderabadi shuttler will now face China’s Neslihan Yigit in the second round after a straight games triumph.
In the first round of the women’s doubles competition, Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy of India defeated Aline Muller and Jenjira Stadelmann of Germany in straight games.
Ponnappa-Reddy, the sixth-seeded combination, won the match 21-15 21-16 in a contest that lasted 35 minutes.
In men’s doubles, Indians MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila were defeated 19-21 13-21 by Indonesians Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto.
The Indian couple led in the first game but squandered their lead as the Indonesian pair snatched the game away from them, while Arjun and Kapila trailed from the start in the second game and were never able to recover, losing the match in straight games.
