BWF World Championships: Kidambi Srikanth advances to third round

Indian star Kidambi Srikanth on Wednesday defeated Spain's Pablo Abian to enter the third round of the men's singles category at the Badminton World Championships.

The fifth-seeded Indian took over an hour to clinch a 21-15, 12-21, 21-14 victory over his unseeded opponent.

The first game was a closely fought battle before Srikanth clinched four back-to-back points to reach game point at 20-13. 

Although the Spaniard managed to reduce the deficit, it was not enough to prevent the Indian from taking the opening game.

Abian made a strong comeback in the second game. He went into the break with a narrow 11-10 lead and took the game away from Srikanth immediately after the restart with an incredible run of seven consecutive points.

The third and decisive game was also a neck-and-neck fight, but Srikanth managed to cinch the game. 

In the next round, Srikanth will face another unseeded opponent American Daren Liew.

The American defeated Misha Zilberman of Israel 21-16, 21-16 in the second round.