Top India shuttlers PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen recorded contrasting victories to make a positive start to their respective women’s and men’s singles campaign at the Indonesia Masters Super 500 tournament here on Wednesday. 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.
Aakarshi Kashyap went down 12-21, 11-21 to Beiwen Zhang of the US in under 30 minutes. 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 No. 22 played some superb cross-court smashes but errors put paid to her hopes.
