Singapore Open: PV Sindhu's form dip continues with another first-round exit; India's opening day shaky

Kallang [Singapore], June 7 : Two-time Olympic medalist and ace Indian shuttler PV Sindhu crashed out of the ongoing Singapore Open in the first round itself after a loss to the incumbent world champion and No. 1 Akane Yamaguchi of Japan on Tuesday.

Sindhu was the defending Singapore Open champion, but she entered the tournament unseeded following four first-round exits this year. The Indian badminton player began the season ranked seventh in the world, but has since slid out of the top ten, as per Olympics.com.

PV Sindhu, now ranked 13th, won the opening game but lost the next two, falling 21-18, 19-21, 17-21 in 61 minutes to exit the BWF Super 750 tournament.

PV Sindhu controlled the first game, with Akane Yamaguchi mostly playing catch-up. PV Sindhu led 14-12 at one point in the second game. Akane Yamaguchi, though, regained the initiative with a late assault and forced the match into a decider.

Despite a few smashes and effective drop shots, PV Sindhu was unable to grab the lead in the third game and was defeated in three games by the Japanese shuttler.

PV Sindhu suffered her tenth defeat to Akane Yamaguchi. Sindhu has a 14-10 head-to-head advantage.

India had a difficult day in the Singapore Open 2023, losing five of eight matches in the first round.

In the first round, Olympic bronze medalist Saina Nehwal was defeated by Thailand's seventh seed Ratchanok Intanon 21-13, 21-15. This was Saina Nehwal's third loss in a row to Ratchanok Intanon. Saina Nehwal's most recent victory over the Thai shuttler occurred in the 2018 Asian Games quarterfinals.

Lakshya Sen, who reached the Thailand Open semi-finals last week, was defeated in the opening round of the men's singles by Chinese Taipei's world No. 7 Chou Tien Chen, 21-18, 17-21, 13-21.

Aakarshi Kashyap, world No. 40, also lost in the first round, falling 21-17, 21-9 to Thailand's Supanida Katethong.

HS Prannoy, playing for the first time since winning the Malaysia Masters last month, was unable to snap his losing streak against Japan's world No. 3 Kodai Naraoka, losing 21-15, 21-19 in 56 minutes. This was HS Prannoy's fourth defeat against the Japanese badminton star in as many matches.

Priyanshu Rajawat, who defeated world No. 15 Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan 21-12, 21-15 in his first-round match, will face Kodai Naraoka in the round of 16.

Priyanshu Rajawat has been on a roll this season. He won the Orleans Masters BWF Super 300 tournament in France and has risen over 20 places in the rankings to world No. 37 since March.

Kidambi Srikanth, world No. 23, defeated Thailand's Kantaphon Wangcharoen 21-15, 21-19 in the first round of men's singles.

In the first round, India's men's doubles duo of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila defeated French pair Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar 21-16, 21-15.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, India's world No. 4 men's doubles duo, and Commonwealth Games bronze medalist women's doubles combo Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly will begin their campaign on Wednesday.

The tournament started on June 6 and will end on June 11.