Indonesia Open 2021: PV Sindhu, Sai Praneeth, Srikanth enter second round; doubles pairs bow out

After dropping the first game, Sindhu, the reigning world champion, engineered a turnaround to register a hard-fought 17-21, 21-17, 21-17 win over Japan’s Ohori in a match that lasted 1 hour 10 minutes to advance to the pre-quarterfinals.

With the win, Sindhu, improved her impressive record against the Japanese shuttler to 11-0. Sindhu will next meet 23-year-old German shuttler Yvonne Li in the second round. It will be the first meeting between the third seed Indian and world number 26 Li.

World number seven Sindhu suffered a straight games defeat to Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi last week in the Indonesia Masters. So, the ace Indian shuttler will hope to better that result and go all the way this weekend.

Meanwhile, Sai Praneeth overcame France’s Toma Junior Popov in a closely contested men’s singles match that last 46 minutes. Praneet defeated Junior Popov in straight games 21-19, 21-18 and will next face another Frenchman Christo Popov in the pre-quarterfinals on Thursday (November 25).

Also, Kidambi Srikanth got the better of compatriot HS Prannoy for the second time within a week. However, it was not straighforward as the Indoneisa Masters quartefinals last week, where Srikanth claimed a straight games win.

On Wednesday (November 24), the match that lasted 56 minutes, went into the decider after Prannoy had levelled the score at 1-1, but Srikanth fought hard and took the third game, winning 21-15, 19-21, 21-12.

The 28-year-old will next face the winner of the match between Japan’s Koki Wantanbe and second seeded Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in the second round.

While the singles trio progressed, there was disappointment for India in doubles competition as the mixed doubles pairing of N Sikki Reddy and Dhruv Kapila fell to the Japanese duo of Kyohei Yamashita and Naru Shinoya, 7-21, 12-21.

In women’s doubles, the pair of Sikki Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa went down fighting in straight games 27-29, 18-21 to Bulgarian fifth seed sisters Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva.

Later in the day, in doubles competition, Ashwini will team up with B Sumeeth Reddy to take on the mixed doubles pair of Takuro Hoki and Nami Matsuyama of Japan.

Earlier on Tuesday (November 23), Lakshya Sen, Parupalli Kashyap and couple of doubles pairs crashed out of the tournment in the opening round.

Young Lakhsya went down fighting against top seed Kento Momota, losing 21-23 15-21 to the two-time world champion from Japan in 53 minutes. In another men’s singles match, Kashyap lost in straight games 11-21 14-21 to Loh Kean Yew of Singapore.

In men’s doubles action, the pair of M R Arjun and Dhruv Kapila lost 20-22 13-21 to Korea’s Choi Solgyu and Kim Wonho, while Venkat Gaurav Prasad and Juhi Dewangan went down 12-21 4-21 to Germany pair of Jones Ralfy Jansen and Linda Efler.

(With Agency inputs)