After missing the season-opening Malaysia Open Super 1000 due to her wedding in December, Sindhu looked a bit rusty but managed to battle through a 21-14, 22-20 victory over world No. 24 Sung Shuo Yun of Chinese Taipei.
“After a long break, it’s always difficult to find the rhythm, but I am happy to have won the match in straight games. My shuttle was going midcourt in the second game, but I was always confident I could pull things off,” said Sindhu.
The world No. 16 Indian will now face Japan’s Manami Suizu in the second round.
In men’s doubles, title contenders Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, seeded seventh, overcame a few nervous moments to defeat Malaysia’s world No. 7 duo, Man Wei Chong and Kai Wun Tee, 23-21, 19-21, 21-16.
After winning a narrow opening game, the Indian pair slipped in the second, allowing the Malaysians to force a decider. Satwik and Chirag took an 11-9 lead in the third game, but the Malaysian pair kept things tight until 18-16, before the Indians sealed the match following two net errors from their opponents.
“They have always been a formidable team. They defended quite well, and it was very difficult to penetrate. Their service retrieving was also good. They have improved immensely, but we are happy we could come back in the third,” said Chirag.
Amrutha Pramuthesh and Sonali Singh also fell short, going down 21-19, 15-21, 12-21 to Thailand’s O Jongsathapornparn and S Suwachai.
In mixed doubles, S Karunakaran and A Variyath lost 12-21, 10-21 to the French pair of T Gicquel and D Delrue. Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Gadde also fought hard but were defeated 21-17, 18-21, 15-21 by Hee Yong Kai Terry and Jin Yu Jia.
Former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth, who was granted a last-minute entry, withdrew from the tournament, handing a walkover to his first-round opponent Weng Hong Yang of China.
Earlier in the day, Sindhu made a strong start, taking an 11-6 lead at the break and comfortably clinching the opening game. However, the second game saw Sung gain control, establishing an 11-4 lead at the interval. Sindhu mounted a comeback, levelling the score at 13-13 with a four-point burst.
Despite trailing 14-17, Sindhu rallied again, levelling at 17-17, 19-19, and 20-20, before converting a match point to seal the win.
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