World No. 5 and current runner-up PV Sindhu of India began her quest for an improved colour of the World Championships medal in a clinical fashion in Basel on Wednesday.
Having earned a first-round bye, the fifth-seeded Indian brushed aside Chinese Taipei's Yu Po Pai 21-14 21-15 in 43 minutes in her women's singles second round and enter the pre-quarterfinals, where she will face Chinese 10th-ranked Beiwen Zhang.
Sindhu has the edge over the Chinese in the round of 16 with a 4-3 win-loss record in their seven previous clashes. The last time the two met on the court was last year, the year in which they shared the honours equally in four meetings, with the Indian winning the last two at the BWF World Tour Finals and the French Open.
On Wednesday, Sindhu took the initial few points to settle down against Pai. Service changed hands with the two going neck-and-neck to be level 5-5.
From there, the 24-year-old tall right-hander marched away with a substantial lead, winning four successive points to be 9-5 up and never to look back.
In the second game, the 28-year-old world No. 45, Pai, fought back hard to even take the breather at 11-10.
Sindhu, it was who was leading initially 6-1 only to surrender the lead to the Chinese Taipei player with some mistakes and .
However, once refreshed, Sindhu surged ahead with her typical smashes while also excelling at the net. Wiping out the deficit straightaway on resumption, Sindhu marched away to victory.
Sindhu was later joined in the women's singles third round by her senior and former finalist Saina Nehwal. The eighth-seeded Indian Saina had it easy against Soraya de Visch Eijbergen of the Netherlands, winning 21-10 21-11 in just 33 minutes.
Saina will next face 12th-seeded Mia Blichfeldt of Netherlands in the third round.
The Indian doubles teams in action, though, exited in the second round.
(India’s men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri (L) and B Sumeeth Reddy in action during their 2nd-round loss to China’s Cheng Kai Han and Hao Dong Zhou on Wednesday - REUTERS)
Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy lost to sixth seed Cheng Kai Han and Hao Dong Zhou of China in just 33 minutes, 16-21 19-21, in men's doubles while in the women's section, the duo of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy, and Jakkampudi Meghana and Poorvisha S Ram bowed out in straight games.
However, at the time of going to press, the men's doubles pair of ; MR Arjun and Shlok Ramchandran were still in the fray, having beaten Switzerland's Tobias Kuenzi/ Oliver Schaller 21-14 21-16 late on Tuesday. They were slated to play 16th-seeded Chinese pair Cheng Liu and Nan Zhang in second round later on Wednesday.
Results (Indians only):
- Men's doubles: Rd 2: Manu Attri/ B Sumeeth Reddy lost to 6-Cheng Kai Han/ Hao Dong Zhou (CHN) 16-21 19-21; On Tuesday (Rd 1): MR Arjun/ Shlok Ramchandran bt Tobias Kuenzi/ Oliver Schaller (SUI) 21-14 21-16
- Women's singles (Rd 2): 5-PV Sindhu bt Yu Po Pai (TPE) 21-14 21-15, 8-Saina Nehwal bt Soraya de Visch Eijbergen (NED) 21-10 21-11
- Women's doubles (Rd 2): Ashwini Ponnappa/ N Sikki Reddy lost to 7-Yue Du/ Yin Hui Li (CHN) 20-22 16-21, Jakkampudi Meghana/ Poorvisha S Ram lost to 8-Shiho Tanaka/ Koharu Yonemoto (JPN) 8-21 18-21
Did You Know?
PV Sindhu has won all her 3 clashes against her Chinese Taipei opponent Yu Po Pai. Before Wednesday’s win, the previous 2 came in Asia Championships in 2018 and the 2016 Swiss Open
