Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and World Championship bronze winner Lakshya Sen registered their contrasting wins to enter the quarterfinals of the Indonesia Masters here on Thursday.
Sen, ranked world No 9, defeated his Danish opponent Rasmus Gemke 21-18, 21-15 in 54 minutes in the men’s singles.
Sen, who was part of the Thomas Cup winning team, will next face Chinese Taipei’s third seed Chou Tien Chen.
While Sen registered easy win, India’s ace shuttler Sindhu faced a stiff challenge from home favourites Gregoria Mariska Tunjung. However, Sindhu managed to defeat her 23-21, 20-22, 21-11 in the second round.
Sindhu will be up against the winner of the match between Thailand’s fifth seed Ratchanok Intanon and Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland.
Earlier in the first round, Sindhu, seventh in the badminton world rankings, came from behind to beat world No 22 Line Christophersen of Denmark 21-18, 15-21, 11-21 in her women’s singles opener.
The Indian shuttler took an early 8-3 lead in the first game but was pegged back after conceding a series of successive points to her Danish opponent. In the second game, Sindhu recovered well to come back from an 11-10 deficit to stretch the match into the decider.
The deciding game, however, was a straightforward affair for the two-time Olympic medallist. After being tied at 6-6, Sindhu dominated the match and lost only five points from thereon.
(Inputs from IANS)