Changzhou22 July. Top Indian shuttler PV Sindhu, who ended her title drought of one and a half years by winning the Japan Open for the first time last week, faced a tough challenge from compatriot teenager Unnati Hooda in the first round of the China Open Super 1000 badminton tournament here. Ayush Shetty pulled off a big upset by ousting world number 11 Indonesian Alvi Farhan.
Hooda made world number 8 Sindhu run for 56 minutes
31-year-old Sindhu, who jumped two places to eighth position in the BWF world rankings, had to struggle for 56 minutes in the 10th match of the day played on court number three of the Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium and entered the second round with a 21-14, 9-21, 21-10 win after losing a game against 18-year-old Kishori Hooda.
Hooda had surprised Sindhu in the same tournament a year ago.
Interestingly, just a year ago, in the second round of the same tournament, Unnati had stunned Sindhu with a 21-16, 19-21, 21-13 victory after a three-game struggle that lasted for 73 minutes. However, today she could not pull off an upset against Sindhu.
World No. 24 Unnati gave a tough fight to Sindhu in the first game and kept the score tied at 7-7. After this, Sindhu regained her rhythm and won five points to take a lead of 12-8 and won the first game 21-14.
However, Unnati made a brilliant comeback in the second game. After a 2-2 draw, he took a 6-3 lead and then won six consecutive points to take the score to 12-4. Sindhu could not find the rhythm during this period and Unnati won the second game in a one-sided manner by 21-9 and took the match to the deciding game.
Sindhu made a strong comeback using her experience in the third game. He took the score from 6-3 to 10-5 and then to 15-8. In the end, Sindhu won the third game 21-10 and entered the next round.
Sindhu will now meet fourth seed Chen Yufei
Unseeded Sindhu will now face fourth-seeded home player Chen Yufei, whom she had defeated in straight games in the semi-finals of the Japan Open last week, in the last 16. However, in the matches between the two players, Chen has a slight lead of 8-7.
Ayush’s extraordinary comeback against Farhan
On the other hand, on court number one, world number 23 Ayush Shetty pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the first round of men’s singles by defeating former world junior champion Alvi Farhan of Indonesia 17-21, 21-5, 21-17. Shetty had lost the first game in the match that lasted 57 minutes, but he made a brilliant comeback and completely controlled the second game. They remained patient in the deciding game and registered a memorable victory.
Alwi Farhan contends against Ayush Shetty
in round of 32.#BWFWorldTour #ChinaOpen2026 pic.twitter.com/jatdCt6ibM
— BWF (@bwfmedia) July 22, 2026
in round of 32.All Indian pairs out on the court in doubles
However, in doubles, all the Indian pairs who took the court today were eliminated. In men’s doubles, Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun had to face defeat against China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang. In the seventh match of the day on court number one, the Indian pair lost the match 16-21, 7-21 in just 26 minutes.
In the mixed doubles, Rohan Kapoor and Rutvika Shivani lost to top seeded Chinese pair of Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dong Ping 9-21, 16-21 in 37 minutes in the first match of the day on court number one. In the first match of the day on court number three, Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto lost 18-21, 18-21 against fifth seeded Chinese pair Guo Xin Wa and Chen Fang Hui in a match that lasted 41 minutes.
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