Hello and welcome to the LIVE updates from Day 1 action of China Open.
That's it for today. We will be back with more action — H.S. Prannoy, Kidambi Srikanth, Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy plying their trade — on Wednesday.
A mixed day for India.
- Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy beat Chinese Taipei's Min Chun Liao and Ching Heng Su 21-13, 21-12.
- Korea's Sung Ji Hyun got the better of Saina Nehwal 20-22, 21-8, 21-14.
- P.V. Sindhu beat Japan's Saena Kawakami 21-15, 21-13.
5:00pm: A winning start for India's mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N. Sikki Reddy. They beat the German pair of Marvin Emil Seidel and Linda Efler 21-19, 21-17.
4:59pm: Match point for Pranaav and Sikki at 20-17.
4:57pm: The Germans try to crawl back into the match at 16-17, but India pulls away with a slender lead at 18-16.
4:56pm: At 15-12, India is dominating the second game and the match.
4:53pm: Pranaav and Sikki continue to call the shots and their lead marginally increases at 13-8. India must make sure not to let it slip.
4:48pm: Pranaav and Sikki in the lead at 7-5 in the second game. The duo would be keen to not slip and take the match to the decider.
4:43pm: Seidel and Efler thwart three attempts to draw close at 20-19 but the Indians up the ante at the right time to make sure the game doesn't go any further and wins the first game 21-19.
4:43pm: Game point for India at 20-16.
4:41pm: After a drop in intensity, the Indians are running away with the first game. Pranaav and Sikki lead 19-16.
4:39pm: The Indians have upped the ante and it is 15-13 in favour now.
4:37pm: Sikki and Pranaav take 4 points on the trot to draw level at 12-12.
4:30pm: The Indian pair starts well but squanders a 5-2 lead to to trail 8-11 in the first game.
4:20pm: The action resumes as Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N. Sikki Reddy are up against Germany's Marvin Emil Seidel and Linda Efler.
1:02pm: Stay tuned to this space for more updates from China Open. Next up for India will be - N. Sikki Reddy and Pranaav Jerry Chopra.
12:54pm: In the second and third games, Saina Nehwal was never in control and was always playing catch-up. With the difference in points growing with every rally, the pressure was on Saina to perform and she wilted.
12:52pm: That's it. Sung Ji Hyun beats Saina Nehwal 20-22, 21-8, 21-14 to advance to the pre-quarterfinal of the China Open.
12:52pm: So, game and match point for Hyun at 20-14. Saina has no room for error.
12:49pm: Hyun is running away with the game and the match at 17-9. Saina needs to do something special to stop the Korean.
12:46pm: At 14-7, Hyun asserts her dominance on Saina. The Indian seems to be wilting under pressure.
12:42pm: It is Hyun who is calling the shots, dictating the play as she is 10-6 ahead. Saina is playing catching up and is now in danger of being ousted from the China Open.
12:38pm: Hyun takes the early lead, yet again, at 5-2. Saina is running out of time and she must force herself out of this tangle.
12:36pm: At 21-8, Hyun takes the second game and it is 1-1 now. We are on to the decider now!
12:35pm: What do you do when your opponent takes nine points on the trot? Well, there isn't much you can. Hyun takes nine consecutive points and takes the score to 19-6 before Saina manages to stage a comeback. Hyun then goes a step forward to 20-7, Saina thwarts one match point but it only delays the inevitable.
12:30pm: Hyun is on power mode here. She races to a 10-6 lead in the second game.
12:23pm: But, the Indian comes out on top! Saina wins the battle by taking the first game 22-20.
12:12pm: At the interval of the first game, Saina Nehwal leads 11-8. The Korean can still stage a come back and she does it. Now, Ji Hyun is two points away from winning the first game.
12:06pm: Next up is women's singles where Saina Nehwal takes on Sung Ji Hyun of Korea in her first round match.
11:59am: After conceding the first game 13-21, Manu Atri and Sumeeth Reddy take the next two 21-13, 21-12 to move into the next round. Brilliant comeback by the Indian duo.
11:52am: The kind of start to the third game, Atri and Reddy would have wanted. Now seven points away from sealing the match.
11:44am: The match now moves into the decider game after the Atri and Reddy fought back to take the second 21-13.
11:42am: This is some comeback from Atri and Reddy as the Indian duo now has a lead of 17-13 in the second game.
11:31am: Atri and Reddy lose the first game 13-21. The Taiwanese pair again into an early lead in the second game.
11:24am: The action now shifts to mixed doubles where the Indian duo of Manu Atri and B. Sumeeth Reddy takes on Liao Min-chun and Su Ching Heng of Taiwan.
11:08am: Sindhu wins her first round match convincingly 21-15, 21-13, it took the Indian ace to wrap it up in 26 minutes.
11:01am: Now Sindhu concedes the healthy lead she had in the second game as Kawakami makes it 11-12.
10:55am: Sindhu takes the first game 21-15 without breaking a sweat. And continuing with the momentum jumps to a 5-0 lead in the second game.
10:48am: Sindhu makes a dominating start and now holding a good 14-9 over Kawakami. And now she is running away with the first game, extending the lead to 18-9.
10:43am: P.V. Sindhu is first up in her round one match against Saena Kawakami of Japan. The start of the first game is neck-and-neck with the Indian shuttler leading 10-7.
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P.V. Sindhu will have to find a way to battle fatigue if she has to continue her consistent run in international circuit and regain the China Open. The Olympic and world championship silver medallist had won the China Open in 2016 and will be one of the favourites to secure the women’s singles title at the BWF World Tour Super 1000 tournament.
The third seeded Indian will start her campaign against Hong Kong’s Cheung Ngan Yi.
Meanwhile, Saina Nehwal, who had clinched a bronze at the Asian Games in Jakarta, will be rejuvenated after skipping the Japan Open. The Indian faces a tough first round against Korea’s Sung Ji Hyun. Saina, who also had won the China Open title in 2014, has a 8-2 head-to-head record against Sung Ji.
Kidambi Srikanth, who held the World No. 1 ranking for a brief period this year, will look to build on his quarterfinal finish at Japan Open when he begins his campaign against Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke.
H.S. Prannoy too will look to go deep in the tournament after starting against Hong Kong’s Ng Ka Long Angus, seeded eighth.
Among others in fray, women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy will face Korean pair of Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong.
In men’s doubles, Commonwealth Games silver medallist pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will square off against Malaysia’s Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Kiong, while Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy will fight it out against Taiwanese combination of Liao Min Chun and Su Ching Heng.
In mixed doubles, Satwik and Ashwini will meet English combination of Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith, while Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Sikki will take on Germany’s Marvin Emil Seidel and Linda Efler in another match.
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