Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu and H S Prannoy advanced to the second round with straight-game wins but it was curtains for Ajay Jayaram in the USD 300,000 French Open Super Series badminton tournament here today.
In a 45-minute gruelling contest, Sindhu, who had suffered a loss in second round in Denmark Open last week, dished out a gritty performance to prevail 21-9 29-27 over Hong Kong's Yip Pui Yin in a women's singles match.
The two-time World Championship bronze medallist Indian will next take on the winner of the match between China's He Bingjiao and Denmark's Mette Poulsen.
Swiss Open champion Prannoy also disposed off Thailand's Boonsak Ponsana 21-16 21-18 in a 41-minute clash to set up against Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen, seeded fifth.
However, it turned out to a disappointing day for Jayaram, who squandered a first game advantage to go down fighting 22-20 10-21 18-21 to Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia in another men's singles match.
Sindhu was trailing 2-6 early on in the opening game but the Indian turned the tables with six straight points and then moved ahead with another six-point and five-point bursts before pocketing it comfortably.
The second game, however, turned out to be an edge-of-the seat thriller as despite leading 7-3 at one stage, Sindhu could not stop Yip from grabbing the lead at 15-13 and 19-16.
Sindhu then changed gears and what ensued next was a tough neck and neck battle till the final point as the duo moved from 19-19 to 26-26. At 26-27, Sindhu reeled off three consecutive points to storm into the second round.
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