Internet Desk: Indonesia Super Series Premier badminton tournament recorded contrasting victories of top Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal at the very beginning of the campaign on Tuesday.
Fourth seed Sindhu breezed past Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong, who is World No. 20 at 21-12 21-19.
Meanwhile, Saina, who is the current World No. 11, beat eighth seeded Thai Ratchanok Intanon at 17-21 21-18 21-12 in women’s singles.
Sindhu effortlessly defeated Pornpawee in the opening game after leading 6-2 early in the game.
In the second game, Sindhu once again opened a 10-3 lead but the Thai girl managed to surge back with seven straight points.
The Indian, however, soon plunged to a 15-10 lead and despite some fightback from Pornpawee, Sindhu managed to shut the door on her rival.
Olympics silver medallist Sindhu, who has won the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold and India Super Series this season, will square off against USA’s Beiwen Zhang in the next round.
Three-time champion Saina, who had a 7-5 head-to-head record against Ratchanok, will face another Thai player Nitchaon Jindapol in the next round. If Saina wins her next match, she is likely to clash with World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying in the quarterfinals.
Saina made a good start to the match, leading 10-4 at one stage but she blew the advantage after the break as Ratchanok clawed her way back to 14-14 and then marched ahead to earn the bragging rights.
In the second game, Saina opened up a 12-7 lead and despite the Thai girl levelling scores at 16-16, the Indian surged ahead to bounce back into the match.
In the decider, Saina dished out a dominating game as she led right from the start 8-2 and didn’t give any chance to Ratchanok to make a comeback.
In the mixed doubles, B Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa suffered a 12-21 9-21 loss to Indonesian combo of Irfan Fadhilah and Weni Anggraini to crash out of the tournament.