Swiss Open: Srikanth, Sourabh enter 2nd round (2nd Ld)

Basel (Switzerland), March 3 : Indias Kidambi Srikanth and Sourabh Verma on Wednesday progressed to the second round of the singles event while the mens doubles pair comprising Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also had a winning start at the Swiss Open Super 300 badminton tournament here.

Srikanth defeated Sourabhs brother, Sameer, 17-21, 21-18, 21-11 in an hour and one minute in the first round.

Sourabh beat Switzerlands Christian Kirchmayr 21-19, 21-18 in 43 minutes.The mens doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty got off to a winning start as they defeated Scotlands Christopher Grimley and Matthew Grimley 21-18, 19-21, 21-16 in the opening round.However, H.S.Prannoy bowed out after a three-game defeat to the Netherlands Mark Caljouw 19-21, 21-9, 17-21 in a match that lasted an hour and two minutes.On Tuesday, the Indian mixed doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy stunned Indonesian second seeded pair Hafiz Faizal and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja.The Indians, ranked 19 on the world standings, secured a 21-18, 21-10 win over the world no.8 pair to advance to the second round.They will now face Indonesias Rinov Rivaldy and Pitha Haningtyas Mentari, who beat Dutch pair Tiles van der Lecq and Deboa Jille 21-13, 21-15.

The second day of the Swiss Open sees Indias top singles and doubles players in action.Reigning world champion P.V.Sindhu starts her campaign against Turkish world no.29 Neslihan Yigit while 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal faces Thailands Phittayapom Chaiwan on Wednesday.