Sindhu labours into quarter- finals
Birmingham, March 15: P. V. Sindhu entered the quarter- finals of the All England Championship with a hard- fought win over Thailand’s Nitchaon Jindapol on Thursday.
The world no. 3 Indian recovered from a slump to win 21- 13, 13- 21, 21- 18 in an hour and seven minutes.
With 2013 champion Ratchanok Inthanon crashing out in the opening round, the onus was on Jindapol to go deep in the tournament and she did produce some superb strokes but Sindhu was always a step ahead.
Coming into the contest, Sindhu had a 2- 1 head- tohead record against Jindapol, who is ranked 11th.
On Wednesday, H. S. Prannoy dished out a gritty performance to outwit eighth seed Chou Tien Chen 9- 21, 21- 18, 21- 18 and enter the men’s singles second round. World no. 16 Prannoy faces Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto next.
Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N. Sikki Reddy defeated Germany’s Marvin Emil Seidel and Linda Efler 21- 19, 21- 13 in the opening round to set up a clash with second seeded Chinese pair of Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping.
LIN, LEE WIN OPENERS China’s Lin Dan and Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei eased through their opening matches.
Two- time Olympic champion Lin Dan talked up how much the tournament meant to him after beating Denmark’s Hans- Kristian Solberg Vittinghus 21- 19, 21- 16. “I think this year there is a higher pace on the court so both of us had to spend a lot of time to get used to it,” said the Chinese sixth seed, who has won the tournament six times. “But after that I think both of us found our own rhythm to stay in the match.”
Four- time champion Lee beat Brazil’s Ygor Coelho 21- 15, 21- 17. Lee is the top seed following the withdrawal of Viktor Axelsen.