Muristek
Jakarta, June 9
Two-time Olympics medallist PV Sindhu and World Championships bronze medallist Lakshya Sen progressed to the quarterfinals of the Indonesia Masters Super 500 badminton tournament with contrasting wins here today.
Sen, who was part of the Indian team that claimed a historic Thomas Cup title triumph in Bangkok, registered a 21-18 21-15 win over world No. 13 Rasmus Gemke of Denmark in 54 minutes in the men's singles.
In the women's singles, Sindhu toiled hard for over an hour before winning 23-21 20-22 21-11 in the second round against Indonesia's Gregoria Mariska Tunjung.
Sen, seeded seventh, will next face Chinese Taipei's third seed Chou Tien Chen, who had defeated the Indian in a three-game thriller during the Thomas Cup last month.
A tough quarterfinals match awaits the fourth-seeded Sindhu as she will take on the winner of the match between Thailand's fifth seed Ratchanok Intanon and Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland.
Against the unseeded Tunjung, Sindhu started on a bright note and played aggressively throughout to win the contest. She used her experience and reach to engage her opponents in long rallies.
Earlier, world No. 9 Sen showed better nerves as he limited his errors and fought his way to a fine win against Gemke.
However, it was curtains for mixed doubles pair of B Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponappa as they lost 18-21, 13-21 to second seeded Chinese pair of Zheng Si Wei and Huang Ya Qiong in the second round.