A resilient PV Sindhu made it to the second round of the French Open 2024, after she beat Canada’s Michelle Li on Wednesday, in a close three-setter 20-22, 22-20, 21-19. The WR-11 Indian came back from behind to get past the WR-8 player to progress in the tournament, where she will now face Beiwen Zhang of the USA.
On the other hand, the former WR-1 in men’s singles, Kidambi Srikanth also made a winning start to his campaign as he beat Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen, but HS Prannoy made an early exit. Srikanth, who is in race against time to qualify for Paris 2024, got the better of WR-14 Chen 21-15, 20-22, 21-8. He will be up against China’s world No. 17 Lu Guang Zu, who beat Prannoy 21-17, 21-17.
PV Sindhu Shows Signs of Return to Form
After a long injury layoff, Sindhu is only playing in her second tournament, and displaying signs of return to form. This was her 10th win over the Canadian Li, in 13 meetings, but had lost her last match against the same opponent in Thailand Open last year.
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In a match where there was hardly anything to separate the two players, Sindhu kept her calm with Prakash Padukone and Agus Dwi Santoso by her side to post the first-round win. Last year, before getting injured, she had trouble in the first-round matches itself, and lost seven times there.
