Tanvi leads strong women’s show in S Korea

Asan: Newly-crowned Taipei Open champion Tanvi Sharma led a strong Indian showing in the women’s singles, but former world championship silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth suffered an opening-round exit in men’s singles as India endured a mixed day at the Korea Masters Super 300 here on Wednesday.

Third seed Tanvi, who recently clinched her maiden BWF World Tour title at the Taipei Open, eased past China’s Yuan An Qi 21-16, 21-15 to progress to the second round.

Rakshitha Ramraj recovered from a game down to beat Korea’s Yoo A Yeon 22-24, 21-12, 21-13, while Mansi Singh fought back to defeat Kim Joo Eun 14-21, 21-19, 21-9.

Fifth seed Isharani Baruah also advanced to the next round after overcoming Korea’s Lee So Yul 21-18, 15-21, 21-7, while eighth seed Anmol Kharb rallied from a game down to beat Hong Kong’s Lo Sin Yan Happy 16-21, 21-17, 21-12.

Ashmita Chaliha defeated Japan’s Riko Hiramoto 22-20, 21-18 and Shriyanshi Valishetty brushed aside Chinese Taipei’s Pai Yu Po 21-15, 21-14 to book their places in the second round. The only Indian casualties in women’s singles were Tanya Hemanth, who went down 16-21, 20-22 to top seed Hina Akechi.