Odense
\nOlympic and World Championship silver medallist shuttler P V Sindhu suffered a shock straight game defeat against Chen Yufei of China in the opening round to crash out of the Denmark Open here.<\/p>\n
Sindhu failed to break the rhythm of World Number 10 Chen to go down fighting 17-21 21-23 in a 43-minute women\u2019s singles match last night.<\/p>\n
This is her second successive early exit from a top tournament. After clinching the Korea Open, she had lost in the second round of Japan Open last month.<\/p>\n
Sindhu conceded a 0-3 lead to Chen early on but managed to erase the deficit when she drew parity at 9-9 and moved together till 17-17. It was at this moment when Chen stepped up and grabbed four crucial points to win the first game.<\/p>\n
In the second game, Chen surged to a 7-3 lead but Sindhu clawed her way back with four straight points. But at the break, it was the Chinese who had a slender one-point lead.<\/p>\n
After the interval, Chen extended the lead to 15-11.<\/p>\n
Sindhu managed to reduce it to 16-17. However, Sindhu struggled to retrieve some low shots and and when one of her net dribbles going awry, Chen had four match points.<\/p>\n
Sindhu then saved four match points to make it 20-20 but eventually Chen closed out the match at 23-21 to avenge her World Championship loss to the Indian.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the other top Indian woman shuttler Saina Nehwal knocked out Olympic champion Carolina Marin of Spain with a 22-20 21-18 win in a hard-fought first round battle, thereby avenging her Japan Open second round loss to the Spaniard.<\/p>\n
World number 12 Saina dished out a controlled game, mixed with aggression and caution to outwit the Spaniard who is ranked eight places above the Indian.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was moving well and finally it is about movements and picking up shots. She is the best player in the world and she is playing extremely well but I was happy with the way I was retrieving my shots,\u201d said Saina after notching up her fifth win over Marin in nine meetings.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know how I played today, everything happened so fast. The court is little fast, it was not a rally kind of court. The smashes were going well but anything could have happened but I picked up those difficult shots,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
After an initial neck-and-neck battle, Saina managed to take a 11-9 lead at the break with the help of her better net play and disguised strokes. But left-handed Marin kept breathing down her neck and levelled the score 13-13.<\/p>\n
Everytime Saina grabbed a point, Marin came back with her trademark strokes. The Spaniard took a crucial 19-18 lead with a net return.<\/p>\n
Once again Saina\u2019s down-the-line smash came to her rescue as she drew parity and soon grabbed the game point. Marin came up with another precise net return to level par at 20-20.<\/p>\n
However, Marin hit wide to hand over an opportunity to the Indian, who sealed the first game with another superb smash.<\/p>\n
After the change of sides, Marin started dictating terms moving to a 5-3 lead but a pumped up Saina soon came back to turn the tables at 7-6 when her opponent hit wide and managed to lead 11-8 at the break.<\/p>\n
After the interval, Marin narrowed the gap to 10-11 but Saina did not allow the Spaniard to make a comeback as she jumped to a 16-11 lead. Marin made a last ditch effort to claw here way back by closing in at 18-20 but Saina soon shut the door without much ado.<\/p>\n
Saina will play either Thailand\u2019s Nitchaon Jindapol or Russia\u2019s Evgeniya Kosetskaya in the next round.<\/p>\n
In the men\u2019s singles, Kidambi Srikanth and H S Prannoy made positive starts but B Sai Praneeth bowed out in the opening round after losing 10-21 15-21 to local hope Hans- Kristian Solberg Vittinghus in a lop-sided contest.<\/p>\n
World number eight Srikanth overcame a spirited challenge from compatriot qualifier Subhankar Dey 21-17-21-15 to set up a clash with Korean Jeon Hyeok Jin, the 2016 Australian Open runners-up.<\/p>\n
World number 15 Prannoy recovered from a 6-11 deficit in the second game to oust Denmark\u2019s Emil Holst 21-18 21-19 in a hard-fought match. It was his third win over the Danish shuttler. The Indian is likely to play former world number one Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia.<\/p>\n
Among other Indians in fray, young doubles specialist Satwiksairaj Rankireddy suffered twin defeats in mixed and men\u2019s doubles competition to end his campaign here.<\/p>\n
Satwik and his mixed doubles partner Ashwini Ponnappa, who had reached the semifinals last week at Dutch Open, lost 19-21 17-21 to local combo of Niclas Nohr and Sara Thygesen.<\/p>\n
In men\u2019s doubles, Satwik and Chirag Shetty, who had reached the quarters at Korea Open, failed to get across Korean pair of Chung Eui Seok and Kim Dukyoung, losing 21-14 18-21 17-21 in the opening round.<\/p>\n
Experienced men\u2019s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy also lost 13-21 18-21 to Denmark\u2019s Mads Conrad- Petersen and Mads Pieler Kolding, while it was curtains for Ashwini and Sikki in women\u2019s doubles after they went down fighting 21-15 18-21 21-23 to Malaysian combo of Chow Mei Kuan and Lee Meng Yean.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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