IMAGE: PV Sindhu, who has slipped to world No 13 in rankings, overcame a stiff challenge. Photograph: Naomi Baker/Getty Images
Star Indian shuttler PV Sindhu roared back to form, ousting home favourite Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in straight games in the opening round of the Indonesia Open World Tour Super 1000 event, in Jakarta, on Tuesday.
The double Olympic medallist and former world champion, who made first round exits from the last two events, took 38 minutes to prevail over her recent nemesis from Indonesia 21-19, 21-15 and seal a pre-quarterfinal berth.
This was also Sindhu’s first win against Tunjung in her last three games as she had lost to the Indonesian in the Madrid Masters final and Malaysian Masters semifinal earlier this year.
Sindhu, who has slipped to world No 13 in rankings, overcame a stiff challenge in the first game when the local challenger led 9-7 with a crosscourt drop.
Using her height to full advantage, Sindhu snatched the lead 11-10 following three consecutive errors by Tunjung and sealed the first game.
After an edgy start, Sindhu was in full flow in the second game, forcing Tunjung to commit a lot of errors as the Indian finally managed to end her string of losses and extended her overall head-to-head record to 8-2.
Sindhu now faces an even tougher battle as she is next up against third seed Tai Tzu Ying.
The Taiwanese star is on an eight-match winning streak against the Indian and overall leads 18-5 on head-to-head.
It was a winning start for the in-form shuttler HS Prannoy too as he prevailed over Kenta Nishimoto of Japan 21-16, 21-14 in 50 minutes.
The seventh-seeded Indian, who claimed the Malaysia Masters Super 300 title last month, next faces NG Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong in the round of 16.
Indian women’s doubles duo of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand crashed out in the opening round, going down to Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi of Japan.
The Commonwealth Games bronze medallist duo squandered their lead in the opening game to go down 22-20, 12-21, 16-21 in a one-hour 12 minutes fight.
CWG Birmingham 2022 champion and world No 5 men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Ranikreddy and Chirag Shetty begin their campaign against Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia in the opening round.
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