India Open 2023: Saina Nehwal eases into second round, PV Sindhu bows out

Sindhu lost in straight sets against Denmark's Mia Blichfeldt.

An inspired Saina Nehwal found a way to get the better of Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt in an hour and three minutes while defending champions Lakshya Sen and men’s doubles combination of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty began their title defence of the Yonex-Sunrise India Open 2023 with comfortable victories on the opening day of the competition at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall here on Tuesday.

The only disappointing result for the vociferous Indian fans, who had been cheering the players through the day, was former champion PV Sindhu’s straight games loss against Thailand’s Supanida Kathethong.

Saina, who has been on a comeback ever since injuring her knee at the end of 2021, defeated Blichfeldt 21-17, 12-21, 21-19 to end the day on a winning note for the Indian contingent.

Earlier, Sen had defeated compatriot HS Prannoy 21-14, 21-15 while Satwik and Chirag beat Scotland’s Christopher and Matthew Grimley 21-13, 21-15 to advance to the next round. However, it was not to be PV Sindhu’s day as she went down 14-21, 20-22 against Katethong.

There were no other surprises on the opening day of the HSBC BWF World Tour Super 750 event (India Open 2023) with former women’s champion Ratchnok Intanon of Thailand, Spaniard Carolina Marin and China’s men’s singles star Shi Yu Qi advancing in contrasting fashion.

But the star of the day for the home crowd was undoubtedly Saina, who moved a lot better, control the rallies and fought hard when the chips were down to advance to the second round.

Saina began on a positive note and raced to an 11-6 lead in the opening game before closing it without much ado. However, Blichfeldt stayed in control throughout the second game and it looked like the momentum had shifted towards the Dane.

However, Saina showed that she had enough and more in her reserves as she went on the offensive to counter her opponents attacking strokes and came up with a deceptive net shot to close the match.

“I have been working on my movement and I was confident that I could win the match today…. I could see that my movement was good today and I was determined to fight for every point,” said Saina after the match.

She will now face China’s Chen Yufei in the next round. The Tokyo Olympic gold medallist defeated Michelle Li of Canada 21-19, 21-15.

In the morning session, the consecutive first-round clash between Sen and Prannoy had been the talk of the town and with both players locked 3-3 in head-to-head after last week’s Malaysia Open face-off, everyone was expecting another close encounter on home turf.

Sen’s strong defence and relatively slower playing conditions meant that Prannoy needed to come up with something special to pack off his younger opponent. But that was no to be as the defending champion showed how difficult it would be to breach his defence in the initial exchanges and opened up a 11-3 lead and never looked back in that game.

Prannoy managed to keep pace with Sen at the start of the second game but the youngster opened up a two-point lead at the break and then kept things flat and fast to close out the match in 45 minutes.

He will now take on Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke, who got the better of former world no. 1 Kento Momota of Japan 21-15, 21-11 in the first match of the day.

“I am happy that I could begin from where I left last year. In Malaysia, I could not control the shuttle in the match against Prannoy but today the conditions were quite good and could control the shuttle quite well. Tomorrow, is a rest day and I hope to continue playing like this after that,” Sen said after the match.

Among the other Indians in the fray, women’s doubles combination of Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly had to held their nerves to get the better of the French combination of Margot Lambert and Anne Tran 22-20, 17-21, 21-18. They will now Chinese sixth seeded combination of Zhang Shu Xian and Zheng Yu, who defeated Ashna Roy and Haritha MH 21-4, 21-2.

Earlier, Marin came up triumph in the clash of two former world champions beating Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara 21-13, 21-18 in 39 minutes.

Both Marin and Okuhara had struggled in 2022 due to injuries and still finding their feet on the world circuit. The Spaniard was first to get off the blocks after the initial exchanges closed out the opening game rather easily.

Okuhara then began mixing things up by pushing her opponent to the backhand court and won a few points when Marin tried to judge the shuttle instead of going for the overhead. This ploy helped the Japanese to open up 12-8 lead before the Spaniard raised the tempo of the rallies.

Marin first weaved together a series of five straight to take the lead and then closed out the match with another set of five straight points. She will now meet sixth seed Ratchanok, who defeated Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei 21-13, 21-11 in her first round clash.

India Open 2023 Day 1 Key Results:

Men's Singles:

Rasmus Gemke (DEN) beat Kento Momota (JPN) 21-15, 21-11

(7)Lakshya Sen (IND) beat HS Prannoy (IND) 21-14, 21-15

Shi Yu Qi (CHN) beat Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo (INA) 20-22, 21-16, 21-15

(4)Jonatan Christie (INA) beat Brian Yang (CAN) 21-14, 21-9

(5)Chou Tien Chen (TPE) beat Lee Cheuk Yiu (HKG) 22-20, 14-21, 21-11

Women’s singles:

Carolina Marin (ESP) beat Nozomi Okuhara (JPN) 21-13, 21-18

(6)Ratchanok Intanon (THA) beat Goh Jin Wei (MAS) 21-13, 21-11

Supanida Katethong (Tha) beat (5)PV Sindhu (Ind) 21-14, 22-20

Saina Nehwal (IND) beat Mia Blichfeldt (DEN) 21-17, 12-21, 21-19

Men’s Doubles:

(5)Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty (IND) beat Christopher Grimley/Matthew Grimley (SCO) 21-13, 21-15

Krishna Prasad G/Vishuvardhan Goud (Ind) beat Ruben Jille/Ties van der Lecq (Ned) 21-11, 23-25, 21-9

Women’s doubles:

Gayatri Gopichand/Treesa Jolly (IND) beat Margot Lambert/Anne Tran (FRA) 22-20, 17-21, 21-18

Linda Efler/Isabel Lohau (GER) beat Shruti Mishra/Sikki Reddy (IND) 21-17, 21-19

(6)Zhang Shu Xian/Zheng Yu (CHN) beat Ashna Roy/Haritha MH (IND) 21-4, 21-2

Mixed Doubles:

Robin Tabeling/Selena Piek (Ned) beat Ishaan Bhatnagar/Tanisha Castro (Ind) 21-11, 21-12