Former India Open champion Ratchanok Intanon booked a second round showdown with fast-rising talent Chen Xiaoxin on day two of the Yonex-Sunrise India Open 2019 in New Delhi today.

Intanon, winner here in 2016, had it easy in her opening test over India’s Sai Uttejitha, 21-9 21-6, but will expect a harder test against the 20-year-old Chinese prodigy, who beat her the last time they played, at the All England earlier this month.

Chen brushed aside the challenge of Indonesia’s Yulia Yosephin Susanto, 21-15 21-11, and joined four of her compatriots in the second round – Han Yue, Cai Yanyan, Li Xuerui and He Bingjiao.

Match of the Day

Kidambi Srikanth, hoping to regain the form that saw him win the title here in 2015, narrowly evaded defeat at the hands of Hong Kong’s Wong Wing Ki Vincent.

Wong was in control of the match at 17-11 in the decider, but Kidambi hit a purple patch at that stage, winning 10 of the next 12 points to seal Wong’s fate, 21-16 18-21 21-19.

India’s men’s singles players had a good day, with Subhankar Dey upsetting fourth seed Tommy Sugiarto (Indonesia), 14-21 22-20 21-11, HS Prannoy overcoming Kantaphon Wangcharoen (Thailand), 14-21 21-18 21-14, and Sameer Verma shutting out Rasmus Gemke (Denmark) 21-18 21-12.

Other Results

• Mixed doubles sixth seeds Lu Kai/Chen Lu (China) had a hard-fought win over Chinese Taipei’s Wang Chi-Lin/Cheng Chi Ya, 21-19 24-22.
• Jan O Jorgensen (Denmark) needed just 28 minutes to bulldoze his way past India’s Rahul Yadav, 21-14 21-6.

Talking Point

“The level of competition in women’s singles is huge. It is as good as men’s singles. It is an Olympic qualification year and I don’t want to put pressure on myself. I want to win four or five titles this season, but I will first look at reaching the quarterfinals and take it from there,” – Ratchanok Intanon.

Did You Know?

Former India Open champion Li Xuerui faces He Bingjiao in the second round. Li has a 2-1 record over her younger compatriot, but He Bingjiao won their last match in November 2018.