World number 20 PV Sindhu brushed aside Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan.© AFP
Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu sailed into the pre-quarterfinals but Lakshya Sen made an opening-round exit from the Kumamoto Masters Japan Super 500 tournament on Wednesday. World number 20 Sindhu brushed aside Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan, ranked 11, 21-12, 21-18 in 38 minutes in a one-sided first round match. She will take on Michelle Li of Canada in the next round. Sen squandered a one game advantage to go down 22-20 17-21 16-21 to Malaysia’s Leong Jun Hao in the men’s singles round of 32 clash.
The Paris Olympics semifinalist held a slim lead in the decider before Hao took control. With the score reading 17-16, both shuttlers were fighting tooth and nail but Hao won the last five points in a row to emerge victorious.
Earlier, Sindhu began sluggishly, quickly falling behind 1-5, but the Indian shuttler, who has been grappling with poor form, regained her composure with a series of clever drop shots, making a strong comeback to take a narrow 11-10 lead at the break.
Having gained momentum, Sindhu extended her advantage as the eighth seeded Busanan committed back-to-back unforced errors.
Sindhu then took control, winning seven consecutive points to seal the first game with a cross-court half smash.
She started the second game aggressively, racing to a 4-0 lead before the Thai shuttler registered her first point. Sindhu’s dominance continued as she claimed 11 of the last 12 points, cruising to an easy victory.
With the win, Sindhu extended her commanding head-to-head record over the Thai shuttler to 19-1.
With the exit of Sen, Sindhu is the lone Indian in contention. The women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand had also made a first round exit, on Tuesday.
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