The top Indian shuttles PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth achieved direct victories in the opening round and got off to an impressive start here at the Toyota Thailand Open Super 1000 tournament on Tuesday.
A week after the Danish national player Mia Blichfeldt was sent to pack at the first event of the Asian stage, world champion Sindhu showed great discipline and concentration in order to keep her position in the women’s opener against the number 12 in the world, Busanan 21-17 21-13 , to claim.
“It was a good game and I’m very, very happy. This win was very important for me in this tournament because I went out in the first round of last week’s tournament, ”said Sindhu after the game.
“That’s why this win was important today because even though it was close in the first game, I didn’t want to make it easy,” she added.
The win put Sindhu’s head-to-head count against Busanan to 11-1. The only time the Indian lost to the Thai player was at the 2019 Hong Kong Open.
Sindhu will face either Sung Ji Hyun from Korea or Soniia Cheah in the second round.
In the men’s, former world number 1, Srikanth, who retired due to a calf muscle retraction last week before the second round, appeared to be fully recovered when in 37 minutes he met another Thai player, Sitthikom Thammasin 21-11 21- 11, decimated.
Previously, Sindhu had opened an 8-6 lead in the opening game but Busanan managed to turn the tables and take a 13-9 advantage on one level.
The Indian slowly erased the deficit and took the lead at 18-16 before receiving the boastful rights.
After the break, Sindhu looked more determined as she zoomed in to a 7-2 lead before taking the break with an 11-5 advantage.
Sindhu reached 19-8 with five straight points. The Indian then missed and Busanan scored a cross-court smash. Sindhu also lost a point on the net.
But Busanan eventually hit wide to give Sindhu seven match points, and she sealed the competition with one mighty blow.
