French Open: Kidambi Srikanth defeats Lakshya Sen in the first round; Saina Nehwal slips again

Former world's no. 1 Kidambi Srikanth improved his win-loss record against the Lakshya Sen to 2-0 by beating the 21-year-old Indian shuttler 21-18, 21-18. 

The last team they locked horns with each other was in the semifinals of the BWF World Championships 2021, where Lakshya Sen was handed a 21-17, 14-21, 17-21 defeat by Kidambi Srikanth.

The world's no. 11 Kidambi Srikanth began the match aggressively and raced to an 18-12 lead. Lakshya Sen roared backed and clinched six straight points to level 18-18. However, Kidambi Srikanth upped his game and regained momentum to win the first game 21-18.

Lakshya Sen began the second game on the offensive, intending to force the match into a decider. However, he failed to match the superior badminton prowess of the veteran Kidambi Srikanth, who won the game after 46 minutes of play.

Kidambi Srikanth will lock horns with Rasmus Gemke of Denmark in the second round of the French Open on October 27.

In another men’s singles match of the day, the world's no. 31 Sameer Verma surprised everyone by securing a 21-15, 21-23, 22-10 over world no. 6 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia in the first round of the men’s singles event.

The world no. 1 HS Prannoy also advanced to the second round after securing a 21-16, 16-21, 21-16 victory over Liew Daren of Malaysia. 

In the men’s doubles event, the Indian pairing of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila crashed out of the Super 750 tournament after a straight set 21-15, 21-16 defeat to no. five seeds Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto.

Saina Nehwal suffers through an early exit at the French Open

Former French Open champion Saina Nehwal crashed out of the 2022 French Open in the opening round of the BWF 750 event after suffering a 13-21, 21-17, 21-19 defeat to Yvonne Li of Germany on October 25.