Swiss Open: Srikanth beats Sameer Verma to get off to winning start

Basel [Switzerland], March 3 (ANI): Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth defeated compatriot Sameer Verma in the first round of the ongoing Swiss Open here on Wednesday. Srikanth secured an 18-21, 21-18, 21-11 win over Verma to progress to the next round of the tournament.
In the first game, Sameer played really well and took a 5-1 lead over Srikanth. Sameer maintained his lead throughout the game, winning the set 21-18.
Kidambi shifted gear after losing the first game and went on to win the next two games. While Sameer gave tough competition to Srikanth in the second game, the latter completely dominated the third game. The match lasted for 61 minutes.
On Tuesday, Indian mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa started their campaign on a high as they outclassed second-seeded Indonesian pair of Hafiz Faizal and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja in the first round of the Swiss Open.
Rankiredddy and Ponnappa defeated the World No. 8 pair in straight games 21-18, 21-10 in the encounter that lasted for 38 minutes. The first game saw a high competition between both sides but the Indian pair stood up strong in the closing stages of the set to claim the game 21-18.
It was one-way in the second game as Rankireddy and Ponnappa did not give any chance to the Indonesian pair to make comeback in the match. However, Indian mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy were ousted on Tuesday by third-seeded pair of Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith of England 21-18, 21-15 in 39 minutes. (ANI)