Defending champion PV Sindhu breezed past Slovakia’s Martina Repiska 21-7, 21-9 to make a resounding start in the BWF World Championship here on Tuesday.
Lakshya Sen prevailed over 15th-seeded Japanese Kenta Nishimoto 22-20, 15-21, 21-18 to progress to the pre-quarters. Sen was made to toil hard for his victory by the Japanese as he took one hour and 22 minutes to emerge winner.
Kidambi Srikanth rallied to defeat Chinese Li Shi Feng 15-21, 21-18, 21-17, the 12th-seeded Indian’s match lasted one hour and nine minutes.
In the men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty beat Chinese Taipei’s Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan 27-25, 21-17.
World No. 7 Sindhu took just 24 minutes to beat the unseeded Repiska. Seeded sixth in the tournament which she won in 2019 — when it was last held — the two-time Olympic-medallist began on a rousing note and raced to a 4-1 lead with her fine play.
Repiska tried to make a comeback with two points, but Sindhu did not let her go ahead, leading 11-4 at the mid-break. She continued her dominance and kept accumulating points to widen the lead, eventually pocketing the first game in only 10 minutes.
