PV Sindhu defeats He Bing Jiao in the first round of the Malaysian Masters
PV Sindhu moved on to the second round of the Malaysia Masters 2022 women's singles tournament with a tough win over China's He Bing Jiao on Wednesday at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur. PV Sindhu, ranked seventh in the world, defeated world No. 9 He Bing Jiao 21-13, 17-21, 21-15 in 56 minutes.
PV Sindhu, who fell in the first round of the Indonesia Open to He Bing Jiao last month, controlled the opening attacks to take a commanding 11-3 lead into the first break. The Indian thereafter dominated the game, taking a 1-0 lead.
He Bing Jiao led two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu 11-7 at the break after the change of ends. PV Sindhu tied the game at 11-all with a four-point streak, but He Bing Jiao rebounded immediately and forced a decider.
Both shuttlers engaged in protracted rallies in the third game. After the scores were locked at 3-all, PV Sindhu hit 10 consecutive points and held off a late comeback to advance to the second round of the BWF Super 500 badminton event.
PV Sindhu's ninth victory over He Bing Jiao in 19 games. PV Sindhu also overcame He Bing Jiao on her route to a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics last year. The Indian shuttler will meet China's global bronze medalist Zhang Yi Man in the second round.
Meanwhile, former world number one Saina Nehwal's terrible record continued with another early departure.
Saina Nehwal, a bronze medalist at the London 2012 Olympics, looked well against South Korean Kim Ga Eun in the first game but lost 16-21, 21-17, 21-14. This year, Saina Nehwal has yet to go past the second round of any championship.
In the men's singles, HS Prannoy, who hasĀ returned toĀ the top-20 of the BWF world rankings the first time inĀ almost three years, defeated Frenchman Brice Leverdez 21-19, 21-14. The Indian, rated 19th, will face Chinese Taipei's Wang Tzu Wei next.
Former Commonwealth Games winner Parupalli Kashyap also advanced to the next round with a 16-21, 21-16, 21-16 victory over Indonesia's Tommy Sugiarto.
Earlier in the day, world champion B Sai Praneeth, ranked 20th, defeated former Pan American Games winner Kevin Cordon of Guatemala 21-8, 21-9.
Meanwhile, world No. 30 Sameer Verma was eliminated after losing to world No. 4 Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei 21-10, 12-21, 14-21.
Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy were defeated in the women's doubles by Indonesia's Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma and Amalia Cahaya Pratiwi. 19-21, 21-18, 16-21.