HYLO Open 2021 Round-Up

Kidambi Srikanth, Sourabh Verma, Lee Zii Jia cruised into the second round whereas Chou Tien Chen, HS Prannoy and Subhankar Dey got knocked out.

The sixth seed Kidambi Srikanth comfortably sailed past Japan's Koki Watanabe in straight-game win at the BWF Super 500 tournament. The Indian ace who played some exceptional badminton against world no.1 Kento Momota at the French Open continued to show the same form as he thumped Koki 21-15, 21-10.

Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia’s participation was a big question mark before his showing up in Saarbrucken, Germany. The reigning All England Champion huffed and puffed to beat old-timer Pablo Abian of Spain 21-11, 21-23, 22-24 in 54 minutes and reached the second round.

The world no.8 will face Ireland’s Nguyen Nyat in the second round.The biggest shock of the day was world no.4 Chou Tien Chen’s exit. The top seed was up against Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew in the opening round. Loh, who is unseeded in the tournament, beat Chou in straight games 21-18, 21-13 in 36 minutes. The 24-year-old will next face world no.35 Toma Popov in the next round.

In other men’s singles matches, Sourabh Verma received a walkover in his first match against Germany’s Max Weisskirchen. HS Prannoy lost to Nguyen Nyat 21-16, 17-21, 7-21. Subhankar Dey locked horns with Korea’s Lee Dong Keun and got beaten by the Korean in two straight games, 11-21, 16-21. In the second round, Lee is up against Srikanth Kidambi which is scheduled on 04th November.