Malaysia Open: Sindhu reaches second round, Saina out after losing to No. 33 player
Malaysia Open: India’s star shuttler PV Sindhu defeated Thailand’s world number-10 player to make it to the second round of Malaysia Open. Seventh seed Sindhu won the match 21-13, 21-17. At the same time, London Olympics bronze medalist Saina Nehwal lost 11-21 17-21 to Iris Wang of America in straight games.
Two Indian women’s badminton stalwarts PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal on Wednesday took to the courts to compete in the first round of the Malaysia Open Super 750 tournament, in which Sindhu made it to the second round while Saina suffered a loss.
Former world champion Sindhu put on a stellar performance to beat world number 10 Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand 21-13 21-17 in straight games, but London Olympics bronze medalist Saina defeated world number 33 Iris of America. Lost 11-21 17-21 against Wang in 37 minutes in straight games.
Former Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap also made a positive comeback from injury and defeated Korea’s Heo Kwang Hee 21-12 21-17 to reach the second round of men’s singles.
Sindhu will face Thailand player in the second round
Seventh seed Sindhu will next take on 21-year-old Thailand’s Phitayaporn Chaiwan, who has been world number one in the world junior rankings and was also part of Thailand’s bronze medal winning team at the Uber Cup in Bangkok. World No. 39 Kashyap will take on Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidasarn, who won the German Open Super 300 title in March, in the second round.
Sindhu had won in the previous competition as well.
Sindhu’s win-loss record against Chochuwong is 5-3. Sindhu had won the last encounter between the two players during the 2021 World Championships. On Wednesday, both the players started fast in the match but Sindhu gradually dominated.
Sindhu soon took a 4-1 lead and then led the first game all the time. She was leading 11-7 till the break. Sindhu played well in the nets and her smashes and returns were strong. Sindhu extended her lead to 16-11 and then won the first game with a smash after securing seven game points.
At the beginning of the second game, Chochuwong made a simple mistake. The Thailand player hit two shots in the net and her returns were also weak, giving Sindhu a 4-2 lead. Sindhu also made easy mistakes after that and got some shots entangled in the nets to help Chochuwong take an 11-8 lead.
Chochuwong took a 16-10 lead, but Sindhu bounced back with five points to level at 17-17. Sindhu took the lead with Chochuwong hitting the net and got three match points after hitting two shots from Thailand’s player and then won the match.
