Indonesia Masters: PV Sindhu defeats Azurmendi, qualifies for quarterfinals
Ace Indian shuttler PV Sindhu registered a brilliant come-from-behind victory against Spain's Clara Azurmendi to advance to the quarterfinals of the Indonesia Masters Super 750 badminton tournament here on Thursday.
Playing against the world no 47 Azurmendi for the first time, Sindhu, who is seeded third, took 47 minutes to record a 17-21 21-7 21-12 in the women's singles second-round clash.
The two-time Olympic medallist will now lock horns with world no 30 unseeded Turkish shuttler Neslihan Yigit in the quarterfinals. Sindhu has a 3-0 head-to-head record against the Turkish.
However, it was curtains for young Lakshya Sen in the men's singles event and the mixed doubles pairing of Dhruv Kapila and N Sikki Reddy.
The 20-year-old Lakshya, who had reached the semi-finals at Hylo Open Super 500 and final of Dutch Open recently, went down 13-21 19-21 to the top seed and two-time world champion Kento Momota of Japan in a 46-minute clash.
Kapila and Sikki, on the other hand, lost a hard-fought 15-21 23-21 18-21 battle to Thai duo of Supak Jomkoh and Supissara Paewsampran in the second round mixed doubles match.
