India’s PV Sindhu, on Tuesday, advanced to the Round of 16 at the 2024 All England Open Super 1000 after her opponent Yvonne Li withdrew midway into the contest.
Sindhu, who had reached the quarter-finals of the French Open on her return to the BWF World Tour last week, looked extremly comfortable against the world No 26 from Germany.
The Indian, who has never lost to Li in World Tour events, cruised to take the opening game 21-10 in 14 minutes.
Her opponent, however, looked to be struggling and withdrew right after conceding the opening game.
Sindhu will likely face the top seed and world No 1 An Se Young next in the pre-quarterfinals.
HS Prannoy, Aakarshi Kashyap bow out
Meanwhile, India’s top-ranked men’s singles shuttler HS Prannoy suffered a shock loss against Su Li Yang of Chinese Taipei.
Up against a much lower ranked opponent, Prannoy pocketed the first game rather comfortably at 21-14.
However, Su fought back to win the next two games with an identical margin of 21-13 handing Prannoy a defeat in a hour and seven minutes.
The loss against the world No 32 means that, Prannoy has now suffered four first round exits in five World Tour events since the start of the year.
The 31-year-old Prannoy’s best show this season has been a semi-final finish at the Indian Open Super 750 in front of his home crowd back in January.
Prannoy’s premature exit from the tournament was preceded by Aakarshi Kashyap’s straight games loss in the women’s singles opening round.
Up against the higher ranked Pai Yu Po of Chinese Taipei, Kashyap lost 16-21, 11-21 in a mere 37 minutes after starting off well.
There were no positive results for the Indians playing in the two late matches on Tuesday.
Kidambi Srikanth, handed a tough draw with a first round clash against top seed Viktor Axelsen, lost 9-21, 9-21 in a 33-minute match.
The women’s doubles team of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, the two-time semi-finalists at the event, lost 18-21, 12-21 to Indonesia’s Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti.