Lakshya Sen and women’s doubles team of Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy exited the All England Championships, losing their quarterfinal matches in Birmingham on Friday. Nineteen-year-old Lakshya went down fighting against Mark Caljouw of The Netherlands 17-21, 21-16, 17-21 in the last eight stages. The Indian youngster gave a good account of himself in the manner he fought back after losing the first game. In the decider too, Lakshya played quite well, but the big lead he conceded in the early part of the game affected his chances. Trailing 11-16, Lakshya came up with a five-point burst to catch up with Mark. But from 18-17, Mark scored three straight points to clinch the decider. Meanwhile, All England witnessed the biggest upset as world No.1 Kento Momota suffered a stunning defeat against Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia 16-21, 19-21. Lee will face Mark in the semifinals. Earlier, Ashwini and Sikki squandered five game points and lost to Selena Piek and Cheryl Seinen of The Netherlands 22-24, 12-21. The Indian girls were within striking distance when they were leading at 20-17 in the first game. The Dutch girls, however, were in no mood to relent and saved three game points. At 20-20, the Indians scored two more points before their opponents won the first game with three straight points from 21-22. Disappointed after losing the first game from such a dominant position the Indians lost rhythm in the second. They conceded a 0-4 lead and trailed their opponents by 4-11 and lost the game at 12-21. Ashwini Ponnappa said that they struggled to control the shuttle due to sideways drift. “We struggled to control the shuttle. There was a sideways drift and we were finding it hard to keep it in. We went too hard; maybe we should’ve been a lot more patient. But there are positives to take from this tournament, particularly our win yesterday over the Stoevas where we made very few mistakes. That’s the way going forward,” Ashwini told BWF website. World champion PV Sindhu will face Akane Yamaguchi in the quarterfinals late on Friday.
Akane Yamaguchi has a slightly unsettling relationship with discomfort – much to her opponents’ dismay, it’s unsettling for the opponents. The Japanese is comfortable with irritants. Tall rivals, fast rivals, clever rivals, Japanese rivals, calm rivals, tempestuous rivals and rivals going by the name Carolina Marin: Yamaguchi can counter all manners of games and conditions, with an expressive shaking of her floppy hair.
The biggest mistake an opponent can make before putting a lid on her busy-bee prancing game, is to think that Yamaguchi can be cornered. PV Sindhu, chasing her first All England crown, runs into this yo-yo ball, who has played just one international match in 2021 – the opener at Birmingham.
🗣 “I have to be prepared for everything and anything.”
— 🏆 Yonex All England Badminton Championships 🏆 (@YonexAllEngland) March 18, 2021
Her second-round opponent from Turkey was withdrawn following a Covid trace and test scare. Admittedly, Yamaguchi runs into Sindhu on the back of a long layoff dating back to last All England.
The one exception to be seriously considered though, is Japan’s National championship, where she lost 22-20 in the third to Nozomi Okuhara. The senior Japanese has spent most of 2020 training in lockdown at Olympics’ Ground Zero improving her footwork to deal with Yamaguchi’s tricky returns.
So Sindhu might want to remember that opponents from powerhouses like Japan, have no dearth of competitive domestic sparring. So Yamaguchi’s relative rustiness might not be the comfort to lean on.
Sindhu leads Yamaguchi 10-7. She’s become a World Champion since that particular statistic froze. But the tricky returns that Okuhara is fixated on, are bubbling like always in Yamaguchi’s repertoire.
Sindhu’s reach can torment Yamaguchi. Her aggression, not as much as it works against the relatively shorter players like Okuhara, Chen Yufei and Tai Tzu Ying. For Yamaguchi brings her own attack into the mix. She has a respectable smash kill and a defense that may leak points initially when Sindhu powers her cross-court deep smashes along the lines. But Yamaguchi likes her back and forths: a string of deflated errors is not exactly what she concedes. There will be resistance even if Sindhu takes off in one of her rampaging starts.
Playing her first match, Yamaguchi had frowned about the air-conditioning and drift irritating her, till the end of the match she won 14, 17. No audience means the winds blow “here and there” like Sindhu herself pointed out. It will be an exciting pitting of wits between the two women, who’ve never won All England, and are being guided by Korean coaches. Both are fresh relatively, not really stretched in their outings the last two days. Both believe in sweetly conveying that there will be no quarter given.
Big Mark Caljouw stands in Sen’s way to semis
Lakshya Sen ought to start as favourite against World No 36 Mark Caljouw. (File)
A hulking Dutchman Mark Caljouw stands in the way of Lakshya Sen making the All England semis in only his second outing at Birmingham.
“He should mentally be prepared for a long match.The Dutch guy is big and has a good defense. Lakshya should not get desperate and should attack at the right time,” Sen’s coach Vimal Kumar said.
Sen’s last match at 2020’s All England was against Viktor Axelsen, who posed a similar problem to the Indian. “He has a good defense and has been playing well. He got the better of Prannoy in the Swiss Open last week,” he added.
Lakshya tends to get a bit frustrated against retrievers. “He is very tall and has a good hit as well. He has beaten Lakshya in one of the PBL games,” the coach added.
It’s been a torrid 6 months for Lakshya, starting with Germany where his father would test positive, and Lakshya wasbarred from playing. “Lakshya has nothing to lose and a win can give him a lot of confidence considering the misery he went through last 6 months. Back injury, COVID,” Vimal said.
But at Birmingham, he’s looked in good touch. “He has no issues last 3 weeks and when he played in the Swiss he just did not have the confidence. Hope a few wins and more matches can help him play at a similar level like early last year,” the coach said.
Sen ought to start as favourite against World No 36 Caljouw, four years his senior. Ranked at No 28, Sen will back himself to make the semis, given the confident manner in which he has strided forward against Kantaphon Wangcharoen and Thomas Rouxel on two consecutive days.
Historically prone to fading off as the match progressed, Sen has shown massive improvements in grabbing the initiative and finishing the job with his mix of aggression and a solid end-game.
What he will need to guard against when taking on the Dutch shuttler, is the relative ease with which Caljouw can tackle Indian players.
He is on 8-3 wins against Indians in the last four years, and tends to play a disarming, harmless game, chipping away before shifting gears to bring in the bulk.
Sen, who’s looked solid, minus any hiccups, will relish the opportunity to make his maiden semis and is capable of playing the composed game. And break the chain of Indians who seem to end up on the losing side against Caljouw.
PV Sindhu and teen shuttler Lakshya Sen marched into the quarterfinals of the All England Open Championships, while HS Prannoy and Sai Praneeth lost their second round matches in Birmingham on Thursday. Sindhu took just 25 minutes to thrash Line Christophersen of Denmark 21-8, 21-8 in the second round. The fifth seeded Indian will face familiar foe Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the quarterfinals on Friday. Yamaguchi got a walkover in the second round. World No.7 Sindhu enjoys a 10-7 win-loss record against Yamaguchi. Earlier, Lakshya downed Thomas Rouxel of France 21-18, 21-17, hours after defeating World No.18 Kantaphon Wangcharoen of Thailand 21-18, 21-12 in the first round. The World No.28 has a good chance of reaching the semifinals as he will face Mark Caljouw of The Netherlands who defeated Nhat Nguyen of Ireland. This will be the first meeting between the two. Late on Wednesday, Saina Nehwal retired in the middle of the second game against Mia Blichfeldt. The Dane was leading 21-8, 10-4 when Saina quit. The Indian team informed TOI that Saina suffered a right thigh muscle pull. Though he played well, Prannoy was unable to stop Kento Momota of Japan 15-21, 14-21. Sai, meanwhile, looked like upsetting Viktor Axelsen of Denmark when he won the first game and led 5-0 in the second game. However, the Dane came back to dominate the Indian in the latter part of the match 15-21, 21-12, 21-12. Meanwhile, the entire Indonesian team and a Turkish women’s singles player were withdrawn from the tournament after a passenger who travelled on the same flight tested positive for Covid-19. Some Indonesian players like their top seeded men’s doubles team have already completed their first round matches. Dhruv Kapila and Jakkampudi Meghana benefitted by the withdrawal of Indonesian top mixed doubles team of Praveen Jordan and Melati Daeva Oktavianti. However, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Ashwini Ponnappa and Pranaav Jerry Chopra-Sikki Reddy lost their first round matches. Pranaav and Sikki lost to Rasmus Espersen and Christine Busch of Denmark 15-21, 17-21. Satwik-Ashwini lost 21-19, 21-9 to Kaneko and Misaki Matsutomo of Japan.
PV Sindhu, teen shuttler Lakshya Sen and the women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy marched into the quarterfinals of the All England Open Championships, while HS Prannoy, Sai Praneeth and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty lost their second round matches in Birmingham on Thursday. Sindhu took just 25 minutes to thrash Line Christophersen of Denmark 21-8, 21-8 in the second round. The fifth-seeded Indian will face Akane Yamaguchi of Japan on Friday. Yamaguchi got a walkover in the second round. World No.7 Sindhu enjoys a 10-7 win-loss record against Yamaguchi. Earlier, Lakshya downed Thomas Rouxel of France 21-18, 21-17, hours after defeating world No.18 Kantaphon Wangcharoen of Thailand 21-18, 21-12 in the first round. The world No.28 will face Mark Caljouw of The Netherlands who defeated Nhat Nguyen of Ireland. This will be the first meeting between the two. Unseeded Indians Ashwini-Sikki upset sixth seeds Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva 21-17, 21-10. However, Satwik-Chirag once again faltered against Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark 16-21, 21-11, 17-21. Late on Wednesday, Saina Nehwal retired in the middle of the second game against Mia Blichfeldt. The Dane was leading 21-8, 10-4 when Saina quit. The Indian team informed TOI that Saina suffered a right thigh muscle pull. Though he played well, Prannoy was unable to stop Kento Momota of Japan and lost 15-21, 14-21. Sai, meanwhile, looked like upsetting Viktor Axelsen of Denmark when he won the first game and led 5-0 in the second game. However, the Dane won 15-21, 21-12, 21-12. Meanwhile, the entire Indonesian team and a Turkish women’s singles player were withdrawn from the tournament after a passenger who travelled on the same flight tested positive for Covid-19. Some Indonesian players like their top seeded men’s doubles team have already completed their first round matches. Dhruv Kapila and Jakkampudi Meghana benefitted by the withdrawal of Indonesian top mixed doubles team of Praveen Jordan and Melati Daeva Oktavianti. However, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Ashwini Ponnappa and Pranaav Jerry Chopra-Sikki Reddy lost their first round matches. Pranaav and Sikki lost to Rasmus Espersen and Christine Busch of Denmark 15-21, 17-21. Satwik-Ashwini lost 21-19, 21-9 to Kaneko and Misaki Matsutomo of Japan.
PV Sindhu, women’s doubles duo of Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy and men’s doubles team of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty gave a winning start to the Indian campaign at the All England Championships in Birmingham on Wednesday. However, eight seed Kidambi Srikanth suffered a shock loss against world No.57 Nhat Nguyen of Ireland 11-21, 21-15, 12-21 while Parupalli Kashyap lost to Kento Momota after giving a tough time to the world No.1 Japanese shuttler in the second game 13-21, 20-22. Kashyap saved three match points before losing the second game. The Indian doubles teams faced no such issues as they warmed with dominant victories. While Ashwini-Sikki defeated Benyapa Aimsaard and Nuntakarn Aimsaard 21-14, 21-12 in just 30 minutes, Satwik-Chirag took only 19 minutes to outlast the Indo-English combine of Aniruddha Mayekar and Nikhar Garg 21-7, 21-10. Fifth seed PV Sindhu worked hard in the second game to beat Soniia Cheah of Malaysia in the first round 21-11, 21-17. In the second round Sindhu will face Line Christophersen of Denmark, who defeated Martina Repiska of Slovekia. Men’s double duo of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila lost to Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi of Malaysia 13-21, 12-21 and After initial hiccups due to Covid-19 scare, the morning session of the $850,000 tournament was cancelled and matches started around 1.30 GMT. Late on Tuesday, Indian contingent was worried as it was informed that three of its players and one support staff tested positive for Covid-19. However, the second tests cleared not only the Indians but also all other players who tested positive in the first test.
BIRMINGHAM: World champion PV Sindhu will look to shrug off her demoralising Swiss Open final defeat and take advantage of a depleted field when she spearheads India’s challenge at the prestigious All England Open Badminton Championships, beginning here on Wednesday. Sindhu looked a pale shadow of herself in her defeat against Carolina Marin, going down without much fight as she struggled to contain errors. Carolina, the three-time world champion from Spain, though has pulled out of the prestigious tournament due to an injury, taking some shine off from the event. Also missing in action will be the Chinese, Koreans and Chinese Taipei shuttlers, who decided not to compete in the Super 1000 event as it is not part of the Tokyo Olympic qualification period. It affects the quality of the competition but also provides the 19-member Indian contingent an opportunity to go deep in the draw and recapture the trophy which has been won by just two Indians so far — the legendary Prakash Padukone (1980) and P Gopichand (2001). While former world number one Saina Nehwal had a runner-up finish in 2015, Sindhu’s best finish was a semifinal in 2018 but none of the other Indian shuttlers have been able to go deep in the tournament till now. Olympic silver medallist Sindhu will again be one of the top contenders but Saina is nowhere near her best with just two quarterfinal finishes to show in the last two years. Among other Indians, former number one Kidambi Srikanth and young men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, currently ranked 10 in the world, had a good run in Swiss Open and will look to put their best foot forward. Fifth seed Sindhu will kick off her campaign with a clash against Malaysia’s Soniia Cheah and is likely to face Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi in the quarterfinals, provided she wins her initial rounds. London Olympics bronze medallist Saina has drawn in-form seventh seed Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark in her first round and might meet Scotland’s Kristy Gilmour next. In men’s singles, Srikanth will open against Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia, while world championships bronze medallist B Sai Praneeth will take on France’s Toma Junior Popov and is likely to clash next with second seed Viktor Axelsen, who has won the two Super 1000 titles in Thailand, and the Swiss Open. Commonwealth Games gold medallist Parupalli Kashyap will open against world number one Japanese Kento Momota, who is returning to international circuit after a horrific car accident last year that saw him undergo an eye surgery. He was also laid low after contracting COVID-19. Among others in fray, former top-10 player HS Prannoy will meet Malaysia’s Daren Liew, to whom he had lost at the Toyota Thailand Open in January. Sameer Verma will be up against Ygor Coelho of Brazil in opening round and may face third seed Anders Antonsen of Denmark next. Young Lakshya Sen will meet Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen. In men’s doubles, Satwik and Chirag will open against Eloi Adam and Julien Maio of France, while mixed doubles pair of Satwik and Ashwini Ponnappa will square off against Japanese combo of Yuki Kaneko and Misaki Matsutomo. Young men’s pairing of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila will face Malaysian pair of Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi. In women’s doubles, Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy will take on Benyapa Aimsaard and Nuntakarn Aimsaard of Thailand. Poorvisha Ram and Meghana J will fight it out against Danish pair of Alexandra Boje and Mette Poulsen and Ashwini Bhat and Shikha Gautam will meet England’s Chloe Birch and Lauren Smith. In the mixed doubles, Pranav Chopra and N Sikki Reddy will look to go one up against Max Flynn and Jessica Pugh of England, while Dhruv Kapila and Meghana J will face Praveen Jordan and Melati Oktavianti of Indonesia.
HYDERABAD: Olympic champion Carolina Marin pulled out of the All England Championships scheduled to begin on Wednesday in Birmingham. The Spaniard spoke on Sunday and said that she decided to withdraw from the event due to injury. “Unfortunately I won’t be able to play next week at the All England because of the injury I suffered during the Swiss Open. I’ll be back soon!,” Marin said.
Por desgracia no podré jugar la semana que viene en el All England debido a la lesión durante el Swiss Open. Volver… https://t.co/1yaRtnlMfx
Marin was given the top seeding at this prestigious championship. “Me and my team thought that it would be better to take care of the injury that I suffered during the Swiss Open,” she said. Marin thrashed PV Sindhu in the final last Sunday. The All England not being a part of the Olympic qualification is also one of the reasons, why Marin did not want to risk the injury. “Since the All England is not part of the Olympic qualification I want to recover fully from the injury,” Marin said. With Marin withdrawing from the event Sindhu has a good chance of winning her first All England title. Sindhu is expected to meet Marin in the semifinals. Now, if Sindhu gets past Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the quarterfinals, she can easily reach the final where she may face either Ratchanok Intanon, Saina Nehwal or Nozomi Okhura. Even world No.1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei is not participating in the All England Championships. The Chinese too are not competing in this event.
Carolina Marin thrashed PV Sindhu 21-12, 21-5 in the final to win her first Swiss Open title in Basel on Sunday. The Olympic champion toyed with the world champion at the BWF Super-300 tournament. Such was the dominance of the Spaniard that the Indian managed to win just five points in the second game. Of all the five finals on Sunday, this was the biggest margin of victory. Sindhu’s poor form was exposed when she faced the first top-10 player of the tournament on Sunday. With no Japanese, Chinese and even Tai Tzu Ying in the tournament, Sindhu faced no real challenge till the final. She was in the game only till 8-9 in the final. After that Marin treated Sindhu like a kid. The top seed started the match with a lot of pace, she controlled the rallies and reigned supreme at the net. Sindhu, surprisingly, struggled to play from the back of the court as Marin made the Indian move all over the court. From 9-8, Marin zoomed to 15-8 with a five-point burst. She attacked Sindhu with an array of smashes and her cross-court drives near the net puzzled the Indian. Marin finished the second game in just 15 minutes. She started with a 5-0 lead and before Sindhu scored the first three points, Marin was leading 14-3. There was no coming back after that and as the Indian looked helpless on the court, Marin closed up with another cross-court drop to clinch the title. After winning the world championship in August 2019, Sindhu played 14 tournaments and reached only one final. She will compete in the All England Championships scheduled to be held from March 17 to 21. Meanwhile, Viktor Axelsen of Denmark won the men’s singles title with a 21-16, 21-6 victory against Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in the final. Results (All finals) Women’s singles: 1-Carolina Marin (ESP) bt 2-PV Sindhu 21-12, 21-5. Men’s singles: 1-Viktor Axelsen (Den) bt 8-Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Tha) 21-16, 21-6. Men’s doubles: 6-Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen (Den) bt Mark Lamsfuss/Marvin Seidel (Ger) 21-16, 21-11. Women’s doubles: Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan (Mas) bt 3-Gabriela Stoeva/Stefani Stoeva (Bul) 21-19, 21-12. Mixed doubles: 6-Thom Gicquel/Delphine Delrue (Fra) bt Mathias Christiansen/Alexandra B0je (Den) 21-19, 21-19.
PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth sailed into the semifinals of the Swiss Open BWF Super-300 tournament in Basel. While Sindhu downed Busanan Ongamrungphan of Thailand 21-16, 23-21, Srikanth registered a straight-game victory against Kantaphon Wangcharoen of Thailand 21-19, 21-15. In the semifinals, Srikanth will face top seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark. Axelsen had it easy against seventh seed Shesar Hiren Rhustavito of Indonesia 21-17, 21-12. Axelsen defeated Srikanth five times in eight matches Earlier on Friday, Sai Praneeth, Ajay Jayaram and the mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy- Ashwini Ponnappa were knocked out. In the quarterfinals, fifth seed Sai lost to second seed Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia 14-21, 17-21, Jayaram stumbled against eighth seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand 9-21, 6-21. Satwik-Ashwini worked hard before losing to fifth seeds Tan Kian Meng and Lai Pei Jing of Malaysia 17-21, 21-16, 18-21. The Indian mixed pair ran out of gas in the third. From 11-11, the Malaysians widened the margin to 16-11. Though the Indians reduced the gap to 16-17, Kian-Pei scored three more points to move to the match point. Sindhu did not look comfortable against Busanan as the Thai stretched the Indian in the second game. In the semifinals on Saturday, the world champion will face fourth seed Mia Blichfeldt. The Dane stopped the brilliant run of Phittayaporn Chaiwan of Thailand 21-10, 21-7. Though Sindhu enjoys a 3-1 win-loss record against world No.12 Mia, the Dane had shocked the Indian in the first round of the Thailand Open in January. In the other half of the draw, top seed Carolina Marin of Spain reached the last four. Marin downed Beiwen Zhang of USA 21-13, 21-13. Indian results (QFs): Men’s singles: 4-Kidambi Srikanth bt Kantaphon Wangcharoen (Tha) 21-19, 21-15; 2-Lee Zii Jia (Mas) bt 5-Sai Praneeth 21-14, 21-17; 8-Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Tha) bt Ajay Jayaram 21-9, 21-6. Women’s singles: 2-PV Sindhu bt 5-Busanan Ongbamrungphan (Tha) 21-15, 23-21. Mixed doubles: Tan Kian Meng/Lai Pei Jing (Mas) bt Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Ashwini Ponnappa 21-17, 16-21, 21-18.
Indian shuttlers had a good day at the Swiss Open BWF Super-300 tournament in Basel on Wednesday. PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, Ajay Jayaram, Sourabh Verma and the men’s doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy won their first round matches. However, HS Prannoy lost 19-21, 21-9, 17-21 to Mark Caljouw of the Netherlands. A little while later, Lakshya Sen lost to Victor Svendsen of Denmark 16-21, 21-12. While Sindu defeated Neslihan Yigit of Turkey 21-16, 21-19, Srikanth recovered after losing the first game to beat his practice partner Sameer Verma 18-21, 21-18, 21-11. Srikanth will face Thomas Rouxel of France in the second round on Thursday. Second seed Sindhu will face world No.40 Iris Wang of USA in the second round. Sourabh Verma had an easy 21-19, 21-18 victory against qualifier Christian Kirchmayr of Switzerland. He will face three-time world junior champion Kunlavut Vitidsarin of Thailand in the pre-quarterfinals. Ajay Jayaram had it easy against Sitthikom Thammasin of Thailand. The Mumbai shuttler will square up against third seed Rasmus Gemke of Denmark. Meanwhile, second seeds Satwik and Chirag suffered a minor scare against Grimley twins — Matthew and Christopher. The world No.10 Indians overcame a mid-match slump before prevailing over the world No.62 pair from Scotland 21-18, 19-21, 21-16. The Indians dominated the Scots in the third. They secured an early lead of 6-2 and gave no chance to their opponents. In the second round they will play unseeded Indonesians Pramudya Kusumawardana and Yeremia Erich Yoche Yacob Rambitan. In the women’s doubles Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy survived some anxious moments towards the end of the second game before defeating Annabella Jaeger and Stine Kuspert of Germany 21-5, 21-19. Indian results: Men’s singles (Rd I): 4-Kidambi Srikanth bt Sameer Verma 18-21, 21-18, 21-11; Sourabh Verma bt Chirstian Kirchmayr (Sui) 21-19, 21-18; Mark Caljouw (Ned) bt HS Prannoy 21-19, 9-21, 21-17; Ajay Jayaram bt Sitthikom Thammasin (Tha) 21-12, 21-13; Lakshya Sen lost to Victor Svendsen (Den) 16-21, 12-21. Women’s singles: PV Sindhu bt Neslihan Yigit (Tur) 21-16, 21-19. Men’s doubles: 2-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty bt Christopher Grimley/Matthew Grimley (Sco) 21-18, 19-21, 21-16. Women’s doubles: Ashwini Ponnappa/Sikki Reddy bt Annabella Jaeger/Stine Kuspert (Ger) 21-5, 21-19.
Lakshya Sen ought to start as favourite against World No 36 Mark Caljouw. (File)