Indonesia Open: Sindhu advances to second round, Srikanth, Malvika exits

Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu battled her way into the second round of the Indonesia Open with a straight-game win, while former world Number 1 Kidambi Srikanth suffered an opening-round exit 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 round of 32 contest of the Super 1,000 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, who she had lost to in the quarterfinals last week in Singapore last week, in the second round. 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. Malvika Bansod too made a first-round exit. She was outclassed by seventh seed Pornpawee Chochuwong.

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.

Later in the day, the women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, Lakshya Sen and the mixed doubles combine of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto will be seen in action.