French Open Badminton: PV Sindhu makes strong start; Arjun MR-Shlok Ramchandran exit

A week after suffering a first-round exit at the Denmark Open, Indian shuttle queen PV Sindhu erased memories of that defeat by beating the very same player in the first round of the French Open 2018 in Paris on Tuesday. The third seed staved off a stiff challenge from World No. 11 Beiwen Zhang in the first game and then raced through an absolutely one-sided second game for a 21-17, 21-8 win in just 34 minutes.

The American shuttler has proved to be a thorn for Sindhu in recent times. Having lost to the Indian shuttler in three tight games in their first couple of meetings, Zhang turned it around in spectacular fashion at the Indonesia Open last year, where she got her first win over the Indian. She then continued to trouble Sindhu when she saved a match point to get the better of the Indian in the final of the India Open in February.

Zhang produced that same fighting spirit and tenacity in yet another three-game thriller to get her third consecutive win over the Rio Olympic silver medallist in Odense last week. Having crumbled there so early, the pressure was always on Sindhu in Tuesday’s Paris encounter with Zhang because she hasn’t been able to figure out the American of late.

But the 23-year-old showed a lot of poise, never allowing Zhang to build a huge lead. The two were even till 4-4 after which Sindhu made her mark and went up 7-4 and then 9-5.

Leading 10-6, she allowed Zhang to come back and take five points on the trot. The two were once more evenly poised after the interval as they continued to be highly competitive. From 15-15, Sindhu began to show her patience and took one point at a time.

It was soon a 19-16 advantage for the third seed which she made perfect use of by bagging the first game 21-17.

Having given her all in the first game, Zhang was totally drained out by that effort. She did not have much left in the tank to challenge Sindhu, who played her free-flowing natural game and steadily kept increasing the lead.

From 3-3, she went up 9-3 and then 11-4 at the mid-game break. Refusing to let go of the momentum, Sindhu progressed to 17-7, separating herself from her opponent by a whopping 10 points.

It was clear by then as to who would emerge the winner. Sindhu obliged soon after by converting the first of her 12 match points.

In men’s doubles, Hellas Open champions Arjun MR and Shlok Ramchandran went down fighting 14-21, 17-21 to the second seeds Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen of China.

Tuesday was the first day of the French Open 2018 due to which not many of the top shuttlers were in action. Both Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth will begin their campaign at this Super 750 tournament on Wednesday.