Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu fought hard to beat fellow Indian teenager Unnati Hooda and move into the second round of the China Open, while Ayush Shetty stunned world No. 11 Alwi Farhan in a major first-round upset on Wednesday.
Fresh from ending her two-year title drought by winning the Japan Open last week, Sindhu secured a 21-14, 9-21, 21-10 victory in a 56-minute women’s singles match.
The opening game was closely contested, with both players level at 7-7. Sindhu then took control by winning five straight points to open a 12-8 lead and comfortably claimed the game 21-14.
Unnati bounced back strongly in the second game. After the score was tied at 2-2, she moved ahead 6-3 and then won six consecutive points to stretch her lead to 12-4. Sindhu struggled to regain momentum as Unnati dominated the game and won it 21-9 to force a deciding game.
Sindhu responded in style in the final game. After a tight start, she built a 10-5 lead, extended it to 15-8 and finished the match with a convincing 21-10 win to book her place in the round of 16 of the BWF Super 1000 event.
Sindhu will now take on fourth seed and home favourite Chen Yufei, whom she defeated in straight games in the Japan Open semifinals last week. Chen has a slight 8-7 advantage in their head-to-head record.
In the men’s singles, Ayush Shetty produced one of the biggest surprises of the opening round by defeating Indonesia’s world No. 11 and former world junior champion Alwi Farhan 17-21, 21-5, 21-17 in a thrilling 57-minute contest.
After dropping the opening game, Ayush bounced back with a dominant display in the second round before holding his nerve to win the decider 21-17 and seal a memorable victory.
Meanwhile, in men’s doubles, Hariharan Amsakarunan and M.R. Arjun were beaten 16-21, 7-21 by China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang in less than 30 minutes.
In mixed doubles, Rohan Kapoor and Gadde Ruthvika Shivani lost 9-21, 16-21 to top seeds Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dong Ping of China.
Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto also crashed out after suffering an 18-21, 18-21 defeat against fifth seeds Guo Xin Wa and Chen Fang Hui of China.