Indonesia Open: PV Sindhu reaches second round, Srikanth and Lakshya exit
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PV Sindhu advanced to the second round of the Indonesia Open with a straight-games victory, while Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen suffered first-round exits in Jakarta on Tuesday.
The two-time Olympic medallist was pushed hard by Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan before securing a 25-23, 21-16 win in a 51-minute women's singles match. Sindhu edged a closely contested opening game and maintained control in the second to complete the victory in straight games.
The former world champion is now likely to face reigning Olympic champion and world No. 1 An Se-young in the second round. Sindhu lost to An in the quarter-finals of last week's Singapore Open and trails 0-9 in their head-to-head record.
Srikanth's campaign ended in the opening round after a 19-21, 15-21 defeat to Japan's Yushi Tanaka.
Sen also exited in the first round, losing 19-21, 16-21 to Indonesia's Alwi Farhan.
In women's singles, Malvika Bansod was knocked out after a 12-21, 10-21 loss to seventh seed Pornpawee Chochuwong.
India had success in men's doubles, where the pair of Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun advanced to the second round with a 21-18, 21-10 win over Malaysia's Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub and Tan Wee Kiong.
However, the women's doubles duo of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand exited after a 14-21, 12-21 defeat to Indonesia's Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma and Meilysa Trias Puspitasari.
The mixed doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto also bowed out in the opening round, losing 11-21, 10-21 to China's sixth-seeded combination of Guo Xin Wa and Chen Fang Hui.