Badminton star P.V. Sindhu made a confident start at the All England Open, beating American Beiwin Zhang in straight games, but Kidambi Srikanth bowed out with a first round defeat here on Wednesday.
The sixth seed and world number six Sindhu got the better of the American, ranked eight places below her, 21-14 21-17 in 42 minutes. The second game was a close affair with the two players locked at 16-16. Sindhu, however, won five points in a row after it became 17-all to clinch the issue.
It was the 10th meeting between the two players with Sindhu improving the head-to-head record to 6-4. The last time they met was at the Korea Open where the American won in three sets.
Sindhu will next clash with Korean Sung Ji Hyun for a place in the quarterfinals.
However, in the men’s singles, Srikanth lost in straight games to the Chinese world number five. The Indian lost 15-21 16-21 in 43 minutes.
Saina Nehwal and P. Kashyap are also scheduled to play later Wednesday along with young Lakshya Sen and B. Sai Praneeth. Saina is up against third seeded Japanese Akane Yamaguchi.
In the women’s doubles, Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy will open their campaign against the British pair of Jenny Moore and Victoria Williams. Meanwhile, the mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N. Sikki Reddy lost 13-21, 21-11, 17-21 to top-seeded Chinese pair of Si Wei Zheng and Ya Qiong Huang.
