Indonesia Open badminton championship | Sindhu, Prannoy make prequarters; Treesa-Gayatri bow out

Star Indian shuttler P.V. Sindhu roared back to form, ousting home favourite Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in straight games in the opening round of the Indonesia Open World Tour Super 1000 event, in Jakarta on June 13. HS Prannoy too as he prevailed over Kenta Nishimoto of Japan 21-16 21-14 in 50 minutes.

Star Indian shuttler P.V. Sindhu roared back to form, ousting home favourite Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in straight games in the opening round of the Indonesia Open World Tour Super 1000 event, in Jakarta on June 13.

The double Olympic medallist and former world champion, who made first round exits from the last two events, took 38 minutes to prevail over her recent nemesis from Indonesia 21-19 21-15 and seal a pre-quarterfinal berth.

This was also Sindhu's first win against Tunjung in her last three games as she had lost to the Indonesian in the Madrid Masters final and Malaysian Masters semifinal earlier this year.

Sindhu, who has slipped to world No 13 in rankings, overcame a stiff challenge in the first game when the local challenger led 9-7 with a crosscourt drop.

Using her height to full advantage, Sindhu snatched the lead 11-10 following three consecutive errors by Tunjung and sealed the first game.

After an edgy start, Sindhu was in full flow in the second game, forcing Tunjung to commit a lot of errors as the Indian finally managed to end her string of losses and extended her overall head-to-head record to 8-2.

Sindhu now faces an even tougher battle as she is next up against third seed Tai Tzu Ying.