Satwik-Chirag enter second round of French Open, Sindhu beats Tunjung to advance

It took just 35 minutes for the Indian pair to get past Lucas and Ronan, who lagged behind right from the start as Satwik and Chirag dominated the proceedings.

India’s Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty in action during the Asian Games. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Newly-crowned World No. 1 pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stormed into the second round of the French Open Super 750 badminton tournament with a straight game win here on Tuesday.

The Asian Games gold medallists, who had skipped the Denmark Open last week, beat World No. 34 Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar 21-13 21-13 in a lop-sided contest.

It took just 35 minutes for the Indian pair to get past Lucas and Ronan, who lagged behind right from the start as Satwik and Chirag dominated the proceedings, leading 11-6 at the interval and kept moving ahead to close the opening game.

The second game had a similar script as Satwik and Chirag jumped to a 11-6 advantage once again and kept their stranglehold to seal the issue.

Satwik and Chirag will next meet three-time world champions Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia. The 2014 Asian Games gold medallists defeated Chinese Taipei’s Lu Ching Yao and Yang Po Han.

P.V. Sindhu came from behind to defeat Gregoria Mariska Tunjung 12-21, 21-18, 21-15 to advance to the second round of women’s singles.