Paris: World Champion PV Sindhu began her French Open badminton tournament campaign with an easy win over Michelle Li in the women’s singles first round here Tuesday. World No.6 PV Sindhu, who has been struggling of late, beat Li 21-15, 21-13 in a match that last 44 minutes.
The Olympic silver medallist Indian had a 5-2 head-to-head record over the World No. 8 Canadian before Tuesday’s match. Sindhu had beaten Li during the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia in their previous meeting. Sindhu’s next opponent will be World No. 26 Yeo Jia Min of Singapore.
Sindhu, since claiming her maiden World Championships title in August, has looked awfully out of form as she had failed to cross the second round in three tournaments. She faltered in the second and first rounds at the China Open and Korea Open respectively last month. Sindhu then exited in the second round in straight games against Korea’s An Se Young in Denmark Open last week.
In men’s singles, Subhankar Dey notched up an upset win over Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia to advance to the second round. The World No. 42 Indian rallied to beat his opponent 15-21, 21-14, 21-17 in a match that lasted 78 minutes.
This was Subhankar’s second win over the Indonesian, a former World No.3, this year. Subhankar Dey had beaten the Indonesian in the India Open in March.
PTI