Sindhu, Lakshya enter second round of Indonesia Masters; Satwik-Chirag lose

Bali, Nov 16: P V Sindhu eased into the second round with a straight-game win after fellow Indian Lakshya Sen showed his mettle with a stunning victory over world No. 10 Japanese Kanta Tsuneyama on the opening day of Indonesia Masters Super 750 here on Tuesday (November 17).

Two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu, seeded third, recorded a 21-15 21-19 win over Thailand's Supanida Katethong in a 43-minute women's singles match to set up a second-round clash with Spain's Clara Azurmendi. However, the highlight of the day was Lakshya's win over Kanta Tsuneyama in the men's singles.

The 20-year-old from Almora, who had reached the semifinals at Hylo Open Super 500 and final of Dutch Open, displayed tremendous grit on way to a 21-17 18-21 21-17 win over Kanta in an hour and eight minutes.

Lakshya will face top seed and two-time world champion Kento Momota of Japan in the next round. Sindhu didn't have much trouble in outwitting Supanida in the opening game as she ran up a lead of 11-5 and kept her opponent at a distance even after the break.

Supanida was more competitive in the second game as she kept snapping at Sindhu's heels. The Indian opened up an 11-8 lead at the break but the Thai player kept lurking around.

At 19-18, Sindhu grabbed two match points. Supanida saved one before Sindhu sealed the affair. In men's singles, Lakshya, ranked 19th, continued his rich vein of form to shock his higher-ranked opponent. Lakshya rallied his way from 6-9 down in the opening game to first grab a 13-11 lead and then reeled off four straight points from 14-13 to leave Kanta behind and gain an upper hand.

In the second game, Lakshya was up 4-0 but Kanta clawed his way back at 10-8. The Indian ensured that he had his nose ahead at the interval but his one-point advantage was blown away by the Japanese, who broke off from 14-14 to roar back into the contest.

In the decider, Lakshya showed great mental fortitude as he fought back from 3-6 to jump to 13-8 with a six-point burst. Kanta made it 16-16 but Lakshya ensured he had the last laugh as he won five of the next six points to enter the second round.

However, the sixth-seeded Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost 17-21 15-21 to Malaysia's Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi to bow out of the competition. Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy also entered the second round after beating Denmark's Alexandra Boje and Mette Poulsen 9-21 21-11 21-18 in under an hour.