Shuttler Kidambi Srikanth loses first round at Hong Kong Open

Hong Kong: Top Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth suffered his fourth men's singles first round loss in five tournaments when he went down to China's Tian Houwei at the $350,000 Hong Kong Open Superseries here on Wednesday.

In the absence of the injured Saina Nehwal, sixth seed Srikanth was expected to carry India's flag forward at the Hong Kong Coliseum but he fell to the Chinese World No.10.

Tian took an hour and 13 minutes to beat the World No.5 Indian, winning 21-16, 15-21, 24-22 to extend his head-to-head to a perfect 5-0.