Hong Kong Open: PV Sindhu crashes out after losing to Sung Ji in women's singles second round

Indian shuttler PV Sindhu crashes out of the Hong Kong Open after Korea's Sung Ji beat the former 24-26, 20-22 in women's singles second round.

Sindhu on Wednesday had defeated Thailand`s Nitchaon Jindapol to enter the pre-quarterfinals of the Hong Kong World Tour Super 500 tournament.

Sindhu never looked in the contention as she struggled to find her rhythm right from the start of the match. 

In the first game, Sindhu tried to give some fight as she took the match to the last but the second game saw much better performance from her opponent which resulted in her loss.

The 23-year-old had earlier survived a scare as she fought her way with 21-15, 13-21, 21-17 win over her Thailand counterpart. Sindhu started her campaign with an easy first game but she went down in the second as her Thai opponent made a comeback. However, she refreshed her energy and knocked out Jindapol in the decider. With six consecutive points, Sindhu dominated Jindapol, who could only bag four consecutive points overall in the women`s singles game. The World number three also secured 55 rallies, while World number fourteen could gain only 53 of them.

Meanwhile, shuttler Kidambi Srikanth on Thursday defeated his compatriot HS Prannoy in an all-Indian men`s singles clash to enter the quarter-final of the Hong Kong open tournament on Thursday.

In women`s doubles event, the Indian pair of Ashwini Ponnappa-Sikki Reddy were also knocked out on Wednesday by Japanese pair of Misaki Matsutomo- Ayaka Takahashi in a game that turned into one-sided after first game 21-18, 10-21, 8-21 that last almost an hour.

The Indian campaigners, who won five consecutive points and 39 rallies, were shown doors by their Japanese opponents, who won six consecutive points and 60 rallies in their overall game. 

(With Agency Inputs)