Satwik and Chirag beaten by Popov brothers in Paris as Tanvi and Ashmita advance

India’s French Open began with a familiar disappointment on Tuesday. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, the country’s most successful men’s doubles pair this year, lost their opening match at the Super 750 event in Paris to France’s Christo and Toma Junior Popov.

The home brothers won 21-19, 18-21, 21-13 in an hour and a minute. Satwik and Chirag levelled the match after losing a close first game, but the Popovs pulled away in the decider. It is the Indian pair’s third first-round exit in a row, after they also went out early at last week’s Denmark Open.

Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, world championship bronze medallists this year, were beaten 21-17, 21-18 in 40 minutes by Lin Chih-Chun and Yang Chu Yun of Chinese Taipei.

Wins for Tanvi and Ashmita

There was better news in the women’s singles. Tanvi Sharma won the all-Indian first-round match against Isharani Baruah 21-12, 21-12 in 32 minutes. Tanvi reached the quarter-finals of the Denmark Open last week.

Ashmita Chaliha also went through, beating China’s Han Qian Xi 21-18, 24-22 in 39 minutes, edging a tight second game.

Sindhu and Lakshya still to start

PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen did not feature on the opening day, with first-round matches spread over Tuesday and Wednesday. Sindhu has been drawn against An Se-young, the top seed and defending champion, and Lakshya, seeded sixth, meets Japan’s Kodai Naraoka. Kidambi Srikanth has an all-Indian opener against Ayush Shetty.

Both Sindhu and Lakshya lost in the first round in Odense last week, so Paris is a chance to put that right.