Sydney: Five Indian badminton players, among them Lakshya Sen and HS Prannoy, advanced to the second round of the men’s singles at the Australian Open Super 500, a tournament carrying prize money of USD 475,000.
Lakshya, who won a bronze at the 2021 World Championships, reportedly eased past Su Li Yang of Chinese Taipei with straight-game wins of 21-17 and 21-13. Prannoy, last year’s runner-up at the same event, was said to have staged a strong comeback after a shaky start, defeating world No. 85 Yohanes Saut Marcellyno 6-21, 21-12, 21-17 in a 57-minute opening-round match.
Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya will next face either Chi Yu Jen or Wang Tzu Wei.
The 33-year-old Prannoy, an Asian Games bronze-medallist and a 2023 World Championships bronze winner, will meet eighth seed Alwi Farhan of Indonesia.
World No. 32 Ayush Shetty, who claimed his maiden Super 300 title at the US Open earlier this year, eased past Canada's Sam Yuan 21-11 21-15 in 33 minutes.
The 20-year-old from Karnataka, a bronze-medallist at the 2023 World Junior Championships, will take on fourth seed Kodai Naraoka of Japan, PTI reported.
Tharun Mannepalli, a semifinalist at the Macau Open, overcame Denmark's Magnus Johannesen 21-13 17-21 21-19 in a 66-minute battle. The 2023 National Games gold-medallist will face fifth seed Lin Chun-Yi of Chinese Taipei.
Veteran Kidambi Srikanth, a 2021 World Championships silver-medallist, also advanced after outlasting world No. 20 Lee Chia Hao of Chinese Taipei 21-19 19-21 21-15 in a 64-minute contest.
Srikanth, who finished runner-up at the Malaysia Masters earlier this year, will next play either Japan's Shogo Ogawa or Edward Lau.
Kiran George put up a spirited fight before going down 21-11 22-24 17-21 to sixth seed Kenta Nishimoto, who had beaten Lakshya en route to the final at the Japan Masters last week.
The Indian mixed doubles pair of Mohit Jaglan and Lakshita Jaglan were knocked out by Canada's Nyl Yakura and Crystal Lai 12-21 16-21 in another match.
Lakshya vs Su
In the opening game, Lakshya broke away from 5-5 to take an 11-6 lead at the break. He extended it to 15-7 before Su trimmed the gap to 12-15. Lakshya, however, maintained his control on the rallies and earned four game points after Su's backhand found the net. He sealed the opener with a smash.
In the second game, the two fought neck-and-neck for the first 12 points before Lakshya once again asserted himself to take an 11-8 lead at the interval. Strong in attack and steady in defence, the Indian closed out the match with a sharp cross-court return that Su failed to connect properly.