Shuttler Sindhu advances in Macau Open

Macau, Nov 25: Indian shuttler and two-time defending champion P.V. Sindhu entered the women’s singles second round of the $120,000 Macau Open Grand Prix Gold with a straight games victory over South Korean Kim Hyo Min here on Wednesday. The fifth seeded Indian took 41 minutes to defeat Kim 21-13, 22-20 at the Tap Seac Multisport Pavilion Macau. This was the double World Championship bronze medallist’s third win in as many meetings over the World No.25.

Next up, Sindhu will take on old foe, Indonesian Lindaweni Fanetri for a place in the last eight. The Hyderabadi has a strong 6-2 record against the Indonesian, having won their last four previous meetings.

Earlier in the day, seventh seed H.S. Prannoy and 15th seed B. Sai Praneeth also moved ahead into the third round of men’s singles after notching straight game victories in the second round.

While Prannoy took just over half an hour to defeat Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chia Hsuan 21-19, 21-15, Sai overcame Uzbekistan’s Artyom Savatyugin 21-11, 21-8 in 24 minutes.

For a place in the quarters, Sai will next play Indonesian Andre Kurniawan Tedjono while Prannoy will be up against Chinese Qiao Bin.

However, it was the end of the road for ninth seed Ajay Jayaram and women’s doubles second seeds Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponppa who lost their respective matches.

While Japanese pair of Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota upset Jwala and Ashwini 21-16, 21-15 in 36 minutes, it was Chinese Lin Guipu who accounted for Jayaram’s 11-21, 17-21 loss in 35 minutes. (IANS)