Indonesia Masters: P.V. Sindhu, Lakshya Sen enter round two

Top Indian shuttlers P.V. Sindhu and Lakshya Sen recorded contrasting victories to make a positive start to their respective women’s and men’s singles campaign at the USD 360,000 Indonesia Masters Super 500 tournament in Jakarta on June 8.

While world championship bronze medallist Sen, seeded seventh, outwitted Denmark’s Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus 21-10 21-18, two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu had to toil hard to get the better off Line Christophersen of Denmark 18-21 21-15 21-11 in a 51-minute match.

Sen will face Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke next, while Sindhu plays Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung.

In other results, Aakarshi Kashyap went down 12-21 11-21 to USA’s Beiwen Zhang in under 30 minutes to bow out of the competition.

On a comeback trail after recovering from an injury, Sameer Verma couldn’t put his best foot forward, losing 17-21 15-21 to Indonesia’s Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo.

The mixed pairing of Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto produced a gallant fight before losing 14-21 21-16 12-21 to fourth seeds Praveen Jordan and Melati Daeva Oktavianti of Indonesia in an opening round match.

Sindhu, a former world champion, came into the match with a 3-0 head-to-head record against Line but she blew a 11-9 advantage to lose the opening game, primarily due to her unforced errors.

In the second game too, Sindhu squandered a 3-0 lead but Line too couldn’t grab the opportunity.

The Danish world number 22 played some superb cross-court smashes but errors put paid to her hopes. She missed the lines far too many times and also found the nets a lot to undo all her good work.

A wide shot from Sindhu helped Line to grab a slender 11-10 lead but she again went long as the Indian established a three-point cushion and extended it to 17-12 after an enthralling rally.

Sindhu kept things tight and eventually roared back into the contest after wasting three game points.

In the decider, Line was 4-1 up but it went up in smoke, partially due to her unforced errors. Sindhu too tightened the screws as she kept a grip on the rallies to move to 11-7 at the final break.

Sindhu kept pushing the shuttle at the baseline and didn’t allow her rival to come near the net. Eventually the Indian moved to 11 match points with a precise return at the back and sealed it when Line went to net again.