PV Sindhu progressed to the second round of the women’s singles competition at the All England Championships after her German opponent Yvonne Li retired following the completion of the first game here on Tuesday.
World No. 11 Sindhu, a former world champion, won the first game 21-10 before world No. 26 Li decided to throw in the towel.
The 28-year-old will next face top seed Korean An Se Young, who has proved to be her nemesis, having defeated her all six times they have crossed paths in international badminton.
Sindhu has just once managed to take a game away from the world No. 1 Korean. That happened in their last meeting at the Asia Championships in Dubai last year. Se Young, who is recovering from a right knee injury, secured her second title of the season at the French Open last Sunday.
Sindhu and Li seemed to have an initial battle when they were 4-4 but the Indian soon pulled away to grab a 11-7 lead at the break. She extended the advantage without much ado.
Eventually, a flick serve was dumped into the net by Li as Sindhu grabbed 11 game points and converted when the German went long.
However, Aakarshi Kashyap failed to go past the first round, losing to Pai Yu-po of Taiwan 21-16, 21-11.
In the men’s singles, HS Prannoy lost in the first round to Su Li Yang of Taiwan 21-14, 13-21, 13-21. Viktor Axelsen annihilated Kidambi Srikanth 21-9, 21-9 to earn his 11th victory in 14 meetings.
Meanwhile, Lakshya Sen, who begins his campaign on Wednesday, saw his Paris hopes receive a boost as he grabbed the 15th position in the latest Olympic Games qualification rankings.