Indians at the Daihatsu Indonesia Masters 2021 - Day 1

PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen, and Ashwini/Sikki cruise into the second round as the men’s doubles pair falls on day 1.

Lakshya Sen who had an impressive outing at the French Open and HYLO Open recently broke into the top 20 of the world ranking. World no. 19 was up against Japan’s world no. 10 Kanta Tsuneyama.

The young Indian continued his good form and matched the better experienced Japanese opponent point-to-point and drew the first blood as he took the first set, 21-17. But the 2021 French Open champion responded better in the second set as he edged past the Indian, 21-18. Third set Lakshya Sen played fabulous badminton as he made fewer errors than his opponent, the world no. 19 closed the set, 21-17, and took the match 21-17, 18-21, 21-17.

PV Sindhu took on Thailand’s Supanida Katethong in the first round at the Indonesia Masters.

The third seed who was playing her first match after last month’s semi-finals loss at the French Open looked very good as she thumped the world no. 33 in straight sets 21-15, 21-19, closing the match in just 43 minutes.

Sindhu will next face Spain’s world no.47, Clara Azurmendi in the second round and Lakshya will be up against world no.1 Kento Momta who beat Indonesia’s world no. 24 Tommy Sugiarto in straight sets 21-12, 21-16.  

In other matches on day 1, Indian women's doubles pair Ashwini Ponnappa/Sikki Reddy won their first-round match 9-21, 21-11, 21-18 against Denmark’s Alexandra Bøje/Mette Poulsen. They will play Thailand’s third seeds Jongkolphan Kititharakul/Rawinda Prajongjai in the second round.

Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty lost their first round match against Malaysia’s Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi in straight sets, 17-21, 15-21.