Kidambi Srikanth sails into second round; Prannoy ousted

Saarbrucken (Germany)

Kidambi Srikanth sailed into the men's singles second round with a comfortable straight-game win over Japan's Koki Watanabe in the HYLO Open Super 500 badminton tournament here today. Sixth seed Srikanth subdued Watanabe 21-15 21-10 in 32 minutes. However, HS Prannoy made a first-round exit while compatriot Sourabh Verma advanced to the pre-quarterfinals after receiving a walkover in the tournament that was formerly known as SaarLorLux Open. Prannoy went down 21-16 17-21 7-21 to lower ranked Irish shuttler Nhat Nguyen in 57 minutes. Verma, on the other hand, received a walkover in his first round match against Max Weisskirchen of Germany.

Prague

Russia enter Billie Jean King Cup semis

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova rallied from a set down to beat Alize Cornet today and help the Russian Tennis Federation oust defending champions France and reach the Billie Jean King Cup semifinals for the first time since 2015. Under the tournament's new format, 12 teams have been split into four groups of round-robin play and the group winners progress to Friday's semifinals, with the final on Saturday.

Dubai

Jaglan top Indian at Asia-Pacific golf

Shubham Jaglan, who reached here late and missed the practice round, was the best Indian after the first day of the 12th Asia Pacific Amateur Championship today. The 17-year-old Haryana player, who has been in the spotlight in India since the age of six, is now on a golf scholarship at the University of South Florida in the USA. Jaglan finished with a 1-under 70 and was tied-24th.

Karachi

Pakistani women cricketers test positive for Covid-19

Three more Pakistani women cricketers tested positive for Covid-19 to take the total count to six as country's cricket board is in a limbo to assemble a proper squad ahead of its home series against West Indies. — Agencies