The two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu got off to a flying start in the BWF World Championship on Tuesday (December 14) at court no.3 of Palacio de los Deportes Carolina Marin Stadium. Sindhu shattered Martina Repsika in straight sets at 21-7, 21-9.
The world no.7 Indian took just 24 minutes to claim the match and advance in the tournament.
Repsika tried to make a comeback with two points, but the celebrated Indian shuttler did not let her go ahead, leading 11-4 at the mid-break.
She continued to dominate and kept garnering points to widen the lead, eventually clinching the first game in 10 minutes. The second game also proceeded with Sindhu maintaining her firm grip to race to a 6-0 lead in just two minutes.
Meanwhile, Lakshya Sen toppled the 15th seeded Japanese Kenta Nishimoto 22-20, 15-21, 21-18 to cruise into the pre-quarterfinals alongside Kidambi Srikanth, who rallied to edge Chinese Li Shi Feng 15-21, 21-18, 21-17.
Lakshya dropped the second set after a hard-fought first set. Later, he mustered all the strength to make a comeback and eventually clinched the issue.
In the men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty downed Chinese pair of Taipei’s Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan at 27-25, 21-17 in 43 minutes.
Also in the mixed doubles, pair of Saurabh Sharma and Anoushka Parikh suffered a big blow against Malaysian duo of Tan Kian Meng and Lai Pei Jing. They lost the match in straight sets at 21-8, 21-18.
World No.1 Viktor Axelsen hammered in opener
Earlier, the tournament’s hot favourite and world no.1 Viktor Axelsen suffered an upset in the BWF World Championships on Monday in Huelva. It was only his fourth defeat this year as the Dane fell 14-21, 21-9, 21-6.
The upset was executed by Loh Kean Yew, who was runner-up to Axelsen in the Indonesia Open final recently. The Olympic champion and winner of seven titles this year, was well on his way against his Singaporean opponent with a first game win, but fell apart in the second and third.
Elsewhere, the eighth seed Ng Ka Long Angus fell in an exciting battle to India’s H. S. Prannoy at 13-21, 21-18, 21-19.
