China Open: Sindhu stuns world No. 6 Tomoka Miyazaki to enter pre-quarters; Satwik-Chirag pair prevails

Changzhou: Double Olympic medallist Indian shuttler PV Sindhu entered the round of 16 of China Open after beating sixth seed Tomoka Miyazaki of Japan 21-15, 8-21, 21-17 on Wednesday.

Sindhu made a strong start to the match, racing ahead 6-2 with good control and composure on the court. Her precise lunges and well-timed lifts helped her keep the shuttle in play effectively. The lead grew to 10-5 and then 16-9. Although Miyazaki attempted a late comeback, Sindhu’s early dominance ensured she comfortably took the opening game 21-15.

In the second game, Miyazaki found her rhythm and, after a closely contested start, pulled ahead to take an 11-7 lead at the interval. She maintained the momentum to dominate the game 21-8, forcing a decider.

Sindhu came out firing in the third game, quickly building a 5-1 lead, capitalizing on a flurry of errors from Miyazaki. She extended her advantage to 11-2 at the final change of ends. While Miyazaki attempted to claw her way back from the far side, Sindhu held firm, pushing ahead to 17-9 before sealing the match in 62 minutes to advance to the second round.

Sindhu has had a challenging 2025 BWF World Tour season so far. Her best finish this year remains a quarter-final appearance at the India Open in January, which was followed by four first-round exits and two round of 16 finishes. Last week, Sindhu, a former world champion, went down 15-21, 14-21 to Korea’s Sim Yu Jin in the Super 750 Japan Open, her fifth first-round exit this year.

“It was a much-awaited win for me and winning against her, it was even tough. The first round was very important for me to cross and I’m happy that I did cross the first round. And it was three games and even in the third set, it was important for me to take the lead from the beginning because one side was very disadvantaged and one side was an advantage.

“It started off really good, but in the second game, it was hard for me to control. In the third game, it was important that I take the lead and maintain that, because you never know anything is going to happen. So I took a lead up to 11-2 and then changed courts. I had to maintain the lead, even though it was like two or three or four points, and just keep the lead and keep going,” Sindhu said of her win.

This was Sindhu’s second meeting with the 18-year-old Miyazaki with the Japanese beating the Indian at the Swiss Open last year.

Sharing her thoughts on her 18-year-old Miyazaki, Sindhu added, “She’s doing well and has been doing well for quite some time now. It was important for me to win these matches so that it will also give me a moral boost and also that confidence.

“Because sometimes I’ve been doing three games, I’ve been coming close, yet I’ve been losing. So it was a good win for me and I need to continue this tempo and keep going. But, Even though she’s young, she’s doing well and she’s in the top at the moment.”

In the men’s doubles draw, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty put up a dominant performance to progress into the Round-of-16. The pair outclassed Japan’s Kenya Mitsuhashi and Hiroki Okamura with a convincing 21-13, 21-9 straight-game win.

Meanwhile, in women’s doubles, the Panda sisters, Rutaparna and Swetaparna, faced a tough challenge against the experienced Hong Kong China duo and concluded their campaign.

IANS