Bali, Nov 16 || India's double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and in-form Lakshya Sen entered the second round of the 2021 Indonesia Masters badminton tournament after registering victories in their respective matches, here on Tuesday.
Sindhu, who was last seen in action at the French Open semifinals, beat Thailand's Supanida Katethong 21-15, 21-19 in a women's singles match, which lasted 43 minutes.
Up against the world No 33 Supanida in the round of 32, the ace Indian shuttler started well and raced to an 11-5 lead. The Thai shuttler then fought back and clawed the score back to 16-13, however, Sindhu used her experience to close out the first game 21-15.
In the second game, Sindhu faced a stiff challenge. With Supanida fighting tooth and nail for every point, the Indian needed to be on her toes in order to edge it 21-19.
Reigning world champion Sindhu will now face world No 47 Clara Azurmendi of Spain in the round of 16. Azurmendi defeated Indonesia's Fitriani Fitriani 21-18, 21-14 in her first round clash.
In men's singles, Lakshya Sen edged out world No 10 Japan's Kanta Tsuneyama in the.first-round clash.
The youngster, who had reached the semifinals at Hylo Open Super 500 and final of Dutch Open, displayed great determination to register a 21-17, 18-21, 21-17 win over Kanta in an hour and 8 minutes match.
In the next match, Lakshya will face top seed and two-time world champion Kento Momota of Japan.