Madrid Spain Masters 2024: PV Sindhu Eases Into Second Round; Kidambi Srikanth Bows Out Early

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India's PV Sindhu eased into the second round of the Madrid Spain Masters 2024 on Wednesday (March 27), but Kidambi Srikanth made an early exit from the BWF Super 300 tournament, which is being held at the Centro Deportivo Municipal Gallur in Madrid, Spain.

Two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu registered a straight-game win over Canada's Wen Yu Zhang by a scoreline of 21-16 21-12 in a lop-sided women's singles opeing round contest that lasted for just 30 minutes on court 2.

The half an hour clash had some exciting moments as the two players fought hard for supremacy with Sindhu conceding a 4-2 lead to Zhang, who could only manage a one-point advantage at the break.

After resumption, the Indian pulled away from 14-14 to seal the opening game. The second game was an easy affair as Sindhu jumped to 11-6 after 4-4 at one stage. The Indian kept moving ahead as Zhang's game crumbled under pressure.

Sindhu, who finished as runner-up in the last edition of the tournament in Madrid, will next face Chinese Taipei's Huang Yu-Hsun in the second round on Thursday (March 28).

Apart from Sindhu, mixed doubles pair of B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy also sealed a second round spot after the duo fought back from a game down to defeat Yang Ching Tun and Chen Zhi Ray of Chinese Taipei.

Sumeeth & Sikki saw off the Chinese Taipei pair by a scoreline of 16-21, 22-20, 21-14 in the mixed doubles opener that lasted 49 minutes on Court 3. The Indian pair will next face American duo of Presley Smith and Allison Lee in the second round.

While Sindhu and the Reddy duo progressed, several shuttlers from the country including Kidambi Srikanth, who is chasing a Paris Olympic berth, crashed out in the first round.

Former world number one Srikanth lost in straight games to Japan's Koo Takahashi, who is ranked 61, by a scoreline of 18-21, 15-21 in the men's singles first round match that lasted 38 minutes on court 2.

Also joining Srikanth on their way out of the tournament were, fellow men's singles players Kiran George, Mithun Manjunath and Sathish Kumar Karunakaran as the trio suffered straight games defeats in their respective opening round matches.

George went down 8-21, 10-21 against Chinese Taipei's Lee Chia Hao, while Manjunath suffered 11-21, 12-21 loss to another Chinese Taipe shuttler in Wang Tzu Wei, and Sathish lost by a scoreline of 15-21, 19-21 to Singapore's Jason Teh.

Sathish also made an exit from the mixed doubles competition alongside partner Aadya Variyath, who had lost the women's singles qualification match on Tuesday (March 26).

Women's singles shuttler Ashmita Chaliha also exited the tournament in the first round following straight games loss to fourth seed Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand by a scoreline of 13-21, 11-21 in just 28 minutes.