India’s PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen notched up impressive victories in their respective matches to reach the second round of the Indonesia Masters Super 500 tournament at the iconic Istora Senayan in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Up against Denmark’s Line Christophersen, who she had a 3-0 head-to-head lead against heading into Wednesday’s match, Sindhu produced a brilliant fightback from a game down to win 18-21, 21-15, 21-11 in 50 minutes.

The fourth-seeded Indian star will face Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in the round of 16. Sindhu leads the H2H 6-0 but hasn’t faced the former junior world champion since 2019.

Advertisement

Lakshya, meanwhile, had a tricky first round tie against Danish veteran HK Vittinghus. But the seventh-seeded Indian delivered a solid performance to complete 21-10, 21-18 victory in 38 minutes.

The 20-year-old will now face another Denmark star Rasmus Gemke in the round of 16.

In the last Indian match of the day, Ashwini Ponnappa and B Sumeeth Reddy went through to the mixed doubles round of 16 with a 21-15, 21-14 win against Indonesia’s Serena Kani and Hafiz Faizal. The duo will now face second seeds Huang Yaqiong and Zheng Siwei of China.

Advertisement

However, there wasn’t much cheer for Indian shuttlers elsewhere in the competition on Wednesday.

In women’s singles, Aakarshi Kashyap, who defeated Thailand’s Sirada Roongpiboonsopit on Tuesday to enter the main draw, lost 12-21, 11-21 against American veteran Beiwen Zhang in the opening round.

In men’s singles, India’s Sameer Verma went down 17-21, 15-21 against Indonesia’s recent Asian Championships bronze medallist Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo.

India’s mixed doubles pair of Tanisha Crasto and Ishaan Bhatnagar also lost in the opening round. The duo put up a strong fight but lost 14-21, 21-16, 12-21 against Indonesian fourth seeds Melati Daeva Oktavianti and Praveen Jordan.