Korea Masters: Tanvi Sharma advances, Kidambi Srikanth eliminated in opening round
India secured several wins in the women's singles at the Korea Masters Super 300 in Korea on Wednesday, with Tanvi Sharma advancing to the second round while Kidambi Srikanth was knocked out in the men's singles first round.
Tanvi, seeded third and fresh from capturing her first BWF World Tour title in Taipei, opened her Korea Masters campaign with a 21-16, 21-15 victory over China's Yuan An Qi without being seriously troubled. The women's singles draw produced multiple Indian winners who reached the last 16, while two Indian women were eliminated by higher-seeded opponents. The men's singles suffered significant setbacks as several Indian players, including a seeded contender, failed to progress past the opening day.
Rakshitha Ramraj recovered from a first-game setback to defeat Korea's Yoo A Yeon 22-24, 21-12, 21-13. Mansi Singh also overturned an opening-game deficit to beat Kim Joo Eun 14-21, 21-19, 21-9. Both victories came in three-set matches in the women's singles draw.
Fifth seed Isharani Baruah survived a three-game battle with Lee So Yul, winning 21-18, 15-21, 21-7. Eighth seed Anmol Kharb rallied after losing the first game to overcome Hong Kong's Lo Sin Yan Happy 16-21, 21-17, 21-12. The seeded pair advanced after staging comebacks in their respective matches.
Ashmita Chaliha secured her place in the last 16 with a 22-20, 21-18 win over Japan's Riko Hiramoto. Shriyanshi Valishetty recorded a straight-games victory, defeating Chinese Taipei's Pai Yu Po 21-15, 21-14. Those wins complemented the other Indian progressions in the women's singles bracket.
India's women's singles campaign suffered two defeats: Tanya Hemanth was beaten 16-21, 20-22 by Japanese top seed Hina Akechi, and Aakarshi Kashyap lost to Korea's Kim Min Ji 22-20, 21-23, 3-21 after narrowly dropping the second game and then being overwhelmed in the decider. Both results eliminated those players from the tournament.
The men's singles field proved less productive for India. Third seed Kidambi Srikanth was pushed to a deciding game by Israel's Daniil Dubovenko before losing 20-22, 21-14, 12-21. Kiran George fell 15-21, 9-21 to Korea's Park Sang Yong, while Mithun Manjunath went down 11-21, 9-21 to China's Zhu Xuan Chen. Tharun Mannepalli lost a tight match 13-21, 21-12, 19-21 to Korea's Yoo Tae Bin, and Rounak Chouhan was defeated 21-23, 19-21 by fourth-seeded Korean Jeon Hyeok Jin. Saneeth Dayanand retired during his match against Japanese top seed and world No. 21 Yudai Okimoto while trailing 11-21, 4-13.
With several women's singles players through to the second round, India will seek to build on that momentum in the next phase of the Korea Masters, while the men's singles contingent faces an early exit from the tournament.
