In a shocking defeat, the two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu went down to lower-ranked Zhang Yi Man of China in the second round to bow out of the German Open Super 300 badminton tournament here on Thursday (March 10).
The seventh seed Sindhu, a 2019 World Champion, lost 14-21, 21-15, 14-21 to Zhang in a match that lasted 55 minutes.
It proved to be a disappointing start to the European leg for Sindhu, who will be one of the contenders at next week's All England Championships.
The Indian couldn't get going as Zhang broke off at 5-5 and jumped to a 11-5 lead with six straight points. She kept her nose ahead to pocket the opening game without much ado.
Stung by the reversal, the Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Sindhu made a comeback in the second game as she fought her way to a slender 11-10 lead at the break and then slowly marched ahead to bounce back into the contest.
But the Chinese found her bearing in the decider as she moved away after an initial duel to grab a 11-8 advantage at the interval. She didn't give the Indian much chance after that and soon shut the doors on her fancied opponent.
Srikanth saunters into quarterfinals
Meanwhile, World championships silver winner Kidambi Srikanth progressed to the quarterfinals. Srikanth, a former world no.1 and seeded eighth here, prevailed 21-16, 21-23, 21-18 over China's Lu Guang Zu in a men's singles second round match that lasted an hour and seven minutes. Meanwhile Saina Nehwal, who has been struggling with fitness issues, also proved no match against eighth seeded Thai Ratchanok Intanon, going down 10-21, 15-21 in a lop-sided contest.
Earlier, Sindhu trounced Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan 21-8, 21-7 in a lop-sided contest after Srikanth, seeded 8th, saw off France's world no.39 Brice Leverdez 21-10, 13-21, 21-7 in 48 minutes in the first round. It was Sindhu's 15th win over the world number 11 Thai player, while Srikanth too extended his head-to-head count over Leverdez to 4-0 in the first round. He looked in good touch as he zoomed from 6-6 to 19-8 in a jiffy and pocketed the opening game comfortably.
Also, in the mixed doubles pair of Sai Pratheek K and N Sikki Reddy endured a difficult time against top seeds Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand, going down 19-21 8-21 in their opening match.
