Dubai: It was a mixed day for Indian shuttlers as PV Sindhu won her opening encounter of the Dubai Super Series Finals (DSSF) badminton tournament here, Wednesday but Kidambi Srikanth lost to World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark.
Sindhu defeated World No.9 He Bingjiao of China 21-11, 16-21, 21-18 in a hard-fought match that lasted close to an hour. However, Srikanth, who is coming into this tournament after a month long lay-off from injury, lost 13-21, 17-21 in just 39 minutes.
Srikanth was not in his groove and committed too many unforced errors to pose any challenge to Axelsen. The Danish player built up a healthy lead in both the games and was never threatened by the Indian. The only time Srikanth looked like troubling Axelsen was when he narrowed a 13-19 deficit to 17-19. But an unforced error on the part of Srikanth enabled Axelsen to reach match point at 20-17 and he duly wrapped the tie up with a bodyline smash.
Sindhu was at her fluent best in the first the game against Bingjiao. She controlled the pace of the game and repeatedly engaged her Chinese opponent in long rallies. Whenever she had the opportunity, she closed a point with an accurate down the line kill.
Bingjiao however, increased the pace of the game in the second game and built up a healthy 11-6 lead in at the interval. She kept on building the pressure and easily won the game to restore parity.
The third game was a closely fought affair with the lead frequently changing hands. However, when Bingjiao built up a 16-12 lead it looked all over for Sindhu. However, the Indian regrouped and again found pace on her shots to equalise and 17-all. From then on Sindhu did not give any chance to Bingjiao and sealed the tie on her first match point.