SINDHU, PRANNOY ENTER ROUND 2, JAYARAM OUSTED

New Delhi: Olympic silver medallist P.V. Sindhu and H.S. Prannoy advanced to the second round with straight-sets wins but it was curtains for Ajay Jayaram in the $300,000 French Open Super Series badminton tournament in Paris on Wednesday. In a 45-minute contest, Sindhu, who lost in Round Two of the Denmark Open last week, dished out a gritty performance to prevail 219, 29-27 over Hong Kong’s Yip Pui Yin in the women’s singles. The two-time world championship bronze medallist will next take on the winner of the match between China’s He Bingjiao and Denmark’s Mette Poulsen. Swiss Open champion Prannoy disposed of Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana 21-16, 21-18 in a 41-minute clash to set up a match against Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen, seeded fifth. It was a disappointing day for Jayaram, who squandered a one game advantage to go down 22-20, 1021, 18-21 to Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia. 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 sixpoint and five-point bursts before pocketing it comfortably. The second game, however, turned out to be an edge-ofthe 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 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.