The Indian shuttler beat Korea's Lee Dong Keun in straight games.

The Indian shuttler beat Korea's Lee Dong Keun in straight games.

The Indian shuttler beat Korea's Lee Dong Keun in straight games.

Paris: India's Sameer Verma progressed to the second round of French Open Super 750 badminton tournament with a straight game win over Lee Dong Keun here on Tuesday.

The 25-year-old from Madhya Pradesh, who had won three titles to qualify for the 2018 World Tour finals, beat the Korean 21-14, 21-12 in 54 minutes in the men's singles opening round.

This was Sameer's first win over the Korean, having lost to him twice in the past.

Sameer had stunned world No. 3 Anders Antonsen of Denmark at the Denmark Open second round last week before retiring in the quarterfinals due to a calf muscle injury. His performance helped him improve to world No. 21 in the latest Badminton World Federation ranking chart.

In mixed doubles, Dhruv Kapil and N Sikki Reddy put up a gallant fight before losing 19-21, 19-21 to fifth-seeded Malaysian combination of Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying in their opening match.

Double Olympic medallist P V Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth, B Sai Praneeth and Lakshya Sen are among other Indians in the fray.