French Open: Sameer, Prannoy advance with three-game wins over Ginting, Daren

Sameer dominated the first game and cruised to a 21-15 win. But then, Ginting bounced back to snap the closely-contested second game 23-21. In the third game, Sameer won 22-20 to register his second win over Ginting.

FILE PHOTO: Sameer Verma beat Mark Caljouw of Hyderabad Hunters in the men’s singles semifinals of the Premier Badminton League at Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on January 12, 2019. | Photo Credit: K. Murali Kumar

Sameer Verma registered a terrific win over world no. 6 Anthony Ginting in a three-game men’s singles contest of the BWF French Open Super 750 tournament here at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin on Wednesday. With this win, Sameer advanced to the second round of the BWF World Tour event.

In another three-game contest, H.S. Prannoy became the second Indian to seal his berth in the round of 16. Prannoy beat world no. 28 Liew Daren of Malaysia 21-16, 16-21, 21-16 at court one.

On court three, Sameer dominated the first game and cruised to a 21-15 win. But then, Ginting bounced back to snap the closely-contested second game 23-21.

In the third game, the world no. 31 Sameer lived up to the challenge of the Indonesian and clinched the match with a 22-20 win to register his second win over Ginting in four meetings.

In men’s doubles, however, M.R. Arjun and Dhruv Kapila exited the tournament, suffering a straight-games (21-15, 21-16) defeat to Indonesian pair Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto.