Kidambi Srikanth, Mithun Manjunath and Ashmita Chaliha had strong start to the their respective campaigns at the Thailand Masters Super 300 on Wednesday. The Indians all won their first match of the tournament in straight sets.
Srikanth, the 24th-ranked player in the world, registered his fifth win in six outings against Wang Tzu Wei. Although Srikanth ultimately won the match in straight sets, he had to toil hard to win the match, ultimately achieving the victory with a scoreline of 22-20 and 21-19.
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At the start of the match, Srikanth played his usual aggressive game and led 10-4 in the opening game. However, Wang Tzu won 7 points on the trot as Srikanth found himself trailing 11-10 at the mid game break.
After Srikanth saved three game points at 17-20 to win the first game 22-20, the second game was much more consistent as both players tested each other’s defences and it was a difference of 1-2 points all through the match. At the fag end, Srikanth redoubled his efforts and won the second match 21-19.
With this victory, Srikanth confirmed his for the second round clash with another Indian shuttler Mithun Manjunath. Manjunath in his first match registered a much easier straight-game (21-17, 21-8) win over Jason Gunawan of Hong Kong.
After losing his opening match 17-21 to China’s Lei Lan Xi, world No.36 Kiran George withdrew from his first-round match citing an injury.
In women singles, Ashmita Chaliha overcame the challenge of Wong Ling Ching of Malaysia with a straight-game victory (21-10, 21-16), while Malvika Bansod won 22-20, 21-8 against Peruvian player Castillo Salazar in her first round outing.
