Swiss Open 2023Defending Champion PV Sindhu reaches second round with easy win over Jenjira Stadelmann

By India Today Sports DeskDefending Champion PV Sindhu entered the second round of the BWF Swiss Open 2023 with an easy win over Jenjira Stadelmann on Wednesday.

The two-time Olympic medallist and Commonwealth Games champion defeated Stadelmann 21-9, 21-16 in just 32 minutes to record her first win of the season.

Sindhu had come into the contest having bowed out in the opening round matches of the last three tournaments she had competed in and was looking to put an end to the unwanted streak on Wednesday.

The ace Indian shuttler started well and took a 6-4 lead and went into the interval holding a five-point advantage with the score at 11-6. Soon after the break, Sindhu won four points on the trot to make it 15-6 and to be in firm control of the game.

The CWG Champion gave away just three points after that and went on to take the first game 21-9.

The second game saw the wildcard entry Stadelmann make a terrific start. The Swiss shuttler raced into a 6-2 lead in the second game much to the delight of the fans in attendance.

However, Sindhu was in no mood to let the game slip away and made a strong comeback to outlast Stadelmann and win the second game 21-16 to progress to the next round.

The fourth-seeded Sindhu will now take on Indonesia’s Putri Kusuma Wardani in the second round of the tournament.

India did have a successful day at the tournament with Kidambi Srikkanth, HS Prannoy, Mithun Manjunath and the men’s double pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty also reaching the second rounds of the competition. Srikkanth was involved in a gruelling battle against Weng Hong Yang 21-16, 15-21, 21-18.

However, Lakshya Sen lost against Cheuk Yiu Lee 18-21, 11-21 in the first-round of the Swiss Open to bow out of the competition. Lee will now take on Srikkanth in the second round.