Jakarta: Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu battled her way into the second round of the Indonesia Open with a straight-game win, but it was curtains for former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen after they suffered an opening-round exit here on Tuesday.
Sindhu was made to work hard by Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan before prevailing 25-23 21-16 in a 51-minute women’s singles opening round of the Super 1000 badminton tournament.
The former world champion displayed her trademark attacking game to edge a closely fought opening game before carrying the momentum into the second to complete a straight-game win.
The unseeded Indian is now likely to face reigning Olympic champion and world No. 1 An Se-young, whom she had lost to in the quarterfinals last week in Singapore. Sindhu has a dismal 0-9 head to head record against An.
However, it was a disappointing day for Srikanth, who bowed out after a 19-21 15-21 defeat to Japan’s Yushi Tanaka in the men’s singles opening round.
Sen, who exited in the quarterfinals of the Singapore Open, bowed out in the opening round here losing 19-21 16-21 to Alwi Farhan of Indonesia.
Malvika Bansod too made a first round exit in women’s singles. She was outclassed by seventh seed Pornpawee Chochuwong. The Thai shuttler dominated throughout to register a 21-12 21-10 victory.
The men’s doubles pair Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun progressed to the second round with a convincing 21-18 21-10 win over the higher-ranked Malaysian combination of Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub and Tan Wee Kiong.
But it was early exit for the women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand as they lost 14-21 12-21 to Indonesian duo of Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma and Meilysa Trias Puspitasari.
The mixed doubles combination of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto also made a first round exit, losing 11-21 10-21 to sixth seeds Guo Xin Wa and Chen Fang Hui of China.
