PV Sindhu battled her way into the second round of the Indonesia Open after registering a straight-game win, while it was curtains for Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen after suffering first round defeats in Jakarta on Tuesday.
The two-time Olympic medallist 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 brought her top game to seal the closely fought opening game before carrying the momentum into the second to complete a straight-game win.
Sindhu would most likely 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.
Lakshya’s campaign came to an early end as he suffered a first-round defeat at the tournament. The Indian shuttler, who had reached the quarterfinals of the Singapore Open last week, lost 19-21, 16-21 to Indonesia’s Alwi Farhan.
In women’s singles, Malvika Bansod also bowed out in the opening round after a one-sided loss to seventh seed Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand. Chochuwong controlled the match from start to finish and secured a comfortable 21-12, 21-10 victory.
There was some good news for India in men’s doubles, where Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun advanced to the second round. The Indian pair defeated the higher-ranked Malaysian duo of Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub and Tan Wee Kiong 21-18, 21-10 in straight games.
However, it was disappointment in women’s doubles as Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand were knocked out in the first round. The Indian pair went down 14-21, 12-21 to Indonesia’s Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma and Meilysa Trias Puspitasari.
The mixed doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto also suffered an early exit, losing 11-21, 10-21 to the sixth-seeded Chinese combination of Guo Xin Wa and Chen Fang Hui.
