French Open: Djokovic defeats ailing Alcaraz to reach final
Meeting for the first time this season, Alcaraz and Djokovic have waged a neck-and-neck battle in the ATP Rankings in 2023
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty opened their All England Open badminton campaign in style, outplaying three-time world champions Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham .
Fresh from their French Open victory, Satwik and Chirag picked things up right from where they left off with a sublime 21-18, 21-14 victory over the top seeded Indonesian pair.
Chirag and Satwik, the world No. 1 pair in doubles and seeded fourth at the BWF Super 1000 tournament, will face Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Bagas Maulana, also from Indonesia, in the second round.
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With reigning men’s doubles world champions Kang Min-hyuk and Seo Seung-jae already knocked out of the first round, Satwik and Chirag will be aiming to become the first Indian doubles pair to win the prestigious All England Open title.
Lakshya Sen, meanwhile, looked in great shape in a first-round match against Danish badminton player Magnus Johannesen, winning 21-14, 21-14.
Sen, who had recently made it to the semi-finals of the French Open last week before losing to reigning world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn, will take on another Danish shuttler, Anders Antonsen, in the second round.
Antonsen, ranked third in the world, is a World Championships silver medal winner.
Priyanshu Rajawat, however, failed to get past Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo of Indonesia. The Indian badminton player suffered a 21-19, 11-21, 21-9 loss against the World No. 29.
In the women’s doubles category, Tanisha Castro and Ashwini Ponnappa defeated Yeung Nga Ting and Yeung Pui Lam of Hong Kong China 21-13, 21-18.
They will be up against Zhang Shuxian and Zheng Yu from the People’s Republic of China in the pre-quarterfinals.
Rutaparna and Swetaparna Panda bowed out after losing to Japan’s Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi 21-9, 21-9.
Meanwhile, world No. 1 An Se-young defeated Chinese Taipei’s Hsu Wen-chi in her opening round match to set up a clash against PV Sindhu in the second round.
Sindhu had progressed after her first round opponent, Germany’s Yvonne Li, retired mid-match on Tuesday.
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