The Indian trio of PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth dished out superb performances on the opening day to advance to the second round of the USD 350,000 Indonesia Masters World Tour Super 500 badminton tournament. Olympic and World Championship silver medallist Sindhu opened the new season with a fighting 22-24 21-8 21-17 win over 2012 London Games champion Li Xuerui of China in a 54-minute women’s singles match.
Eighth-seeded Saina, who had reached the semifinals at the Malaysia Masters last week, recovered from a first-game loss to secure a 7-21 21-16 21-11 win over local hope Dinar Dyah Ayustine, ranked 50th, in another women’s singles match. It was Saina’s third win over Ayustine.
In men’s singles, eighth seed Srikanth eased past Malaysia’s Chong Wei Feng 21-12 21-8 to set up a showdown with Japan’s Asian Games bronze medallist Kenta Nishimoto.
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