All England Open 2019: Kidambi Srikanth Advances; PV Sindhu, HS Prannoy Knocked Out After Losing In First Round

Kidambi Srikanth advanced to the second round of All England Open 2019 after outclassing his French counterpart Brice Leverdez 21-13, 21-11 in straight games at the Arena Birmingham on Wednesday. Srikanth's win comes after the Indian shuttlers began their campaign on a poor note which saw PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy being knocked out in the opening round of the marquee badminton tournament. Premier shuttler PV Sindhu was knocked out in the first round after she lost 16-21, 22-20, 18-21 to unseeded Sung Ji Hyun. The marathon contest between fifth seed Sindhu and the South Korean lasted for an hour and 21 minutes. While HS Prannoy's campaign ended on a disappointing note as he lost a closely fought contest 19-21, 19-21 to compatriot Sai Praneeth in the first round. The closely-contested match lasted for 52 minutes where Praneeth held his nerve in the both the games to close the match by a narrow margin.

The first game between Sindhu and Hyun began on an even note till the first 12 points. However, from there on the South Korean took an upper hand to close the game at 21-16.

In the second game, Sindhu pulled out a tremendous comeback after she was trailing 16-20 to close the game at 22-20 and take the match to a decider.

In the decider, following the first eight points Sindhu was outplayed by her counterpart as she went on to close the game and win the match at 22-20.

On the other hand, the first game between Prannoy and Praneeth remained neck and neck till the first 19 points before Praneeth showed great composure to close the game at 21-19.

In the second game, Praneeth took a slender 11-10 lead at the mid-game interval before he went to take the match point at 20-15. Prannoy then tried to fight back but went on to lose the game 19-21.