PV Sindhu cruises, Kidambi Srikanth out at England Open

Indian badminton star PV Sindhu made a confident start at the All England Open, beating American Beiwin Zhang in straight games, but Kidambi Srikanth bowed out with a first round defeat here on Wednesday.

The sixth seed and world No. 6 Sindhu got the better of the American, ranked eight places below her, 21-14, 21-17 in 42 minutes.

Both players started off in rusty fashion in the opening game but Sindhu put the pedal on the gas in the second half and closed it out in 17 minutes.

However, in men’s singles, Srikanth lost in straight games to the Chinese world No. 5. The Indian lost 15-21, 16-21 in 43 minutes.

Meanwhile, the mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy lost 13-21, 21-11, 17-21 to top-seeded Chinese pair of Si Wei Zheng and Ya Qiong Huang.