Former champion PV Sindhu advanced to the women’s singles second round of the Singapore Open Super 750 badminton tournament on Wednesday, while Lakshya Sen fought valiantly but was finally defeated by World No.1 Viktor Axelsen. Sindhu entered the competition after finishing as runner-up at the Thailand Open last week. She defeated Denmark’s World No.21 Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt 21-12, 22-20, in a match that lasted 44 minutes. Sindhu’s next opponent is Rio Olympic winner Carolina Marin of Spain, who has an 11-5 record against her.
Sindhu had a 3-0 head-to-head record against Line, but things started evenly, with the two knotted 8-8 at one point before the Indian took a two-point lead before the break with a brilliant drop shot. The Indian improved to 16-11 with few quick points after Line made too many unforced errors during the tough rallies. Sindhu quickly had eight-game points and converted them with a straight return.
Sindhu maintained his momentum after switching sides, opening up a 5-1 lead before extending it to 11-7 at the break, with Line finding the net. However, the Dane gradually came back at 14-14 and was four points away from pushing the match to a decider, but Sindhu ramped up her game in time to ruin her dreams, reeling off six straight points to claim the victory.
World No.14 Lakshya, who will make his Olympic debut at the Paris Games, fought valiantly but ultimately fell 13-21, 21-16, 13-21 to Axelsen in a 62-minute battle. Lakshya appeared sluggish as he fell behind 1-4 to Axelsen, who relied on his attack to dominate the rallies. The Indian struggled with his length, as his defense crumbled against the Dane, who took a commanding 11-3 lead at halftime and went on to win the opener.
Lakshya showed more initiative in the second game, attempting to shut out the net and try for attacking returns from the backline. He achieved parity at 9-9 after being 6-9 at one point. The impetus flipped after the break, with Lakshya stepping up to take a 14-12 lead. As he advanced to 18-14, the Indian’s smashes began to have an impact. The Dane appeared irritated and made poor decisions as Lakshya scored five-game points and stormed back into the game with a stunning net dribble.
Lakshya dominated the frontcourt fight, opening up a 6-3 lead. The Dane clawed back to 7-7, two errant lifts and a wide push gave Axelsen a one-point lead at the break. After the resumption, Axelsen grabbed 8 of the next 9 points to go up 19-11 and sealed a comfortable win.
