Former champion P.V. Sindhu and K. Srikanth registered straight-game victories to make impressive starts to their campaigns at the season-ending BWF World Tour Finals here on Wednesday.
World champion Sindhu saw off Denmark’s Line Christophersen 21-14, 21-16 in a lop-sided Group A women’s match after former World No. 1 Srikanth beat France’s Toma Junior Popov 21-14, 21-16 in his opening match of Group B.
Lakshya Sen was declared the winner in his opening Group A clash after World No. 2 Kento Momota of Japan retired with a back injury with the score reading 1-1 in the opening game.
The two-time Olympic medalist Sindhu will meet Germany’s Yvonne Li next and Srikanth faces Thailand’s three-time junior World champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn. Lakshya will take on Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark.
The women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy, however, lost 14-21, 18-21 to second-seeded Japanese combination of Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida in their opening Group B match.
Also starting with a loss was the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, beaten 16-21, 5-21 by the Danish combination of Kim Astrup and Anders Rasmussen in Group A.
The results: Men: Group A: Lakshya Sen bt Kento Momota (Jpn) 1-1, retd.; Group B: K. Srikanth bt Toma Junior Popov (Fra) 21-14, 21-16. Doubles: Group A: Kim Astrup & Anders Rasmussen (Den) bt Satwiksairaj Rankireddy & Chirag Shetty 21-16, 21-5.
Women: Group A: P.V. Sindhu bt Line Christophersen (Den) 21-14, 21-16. Doubles: Group B: Nami Matsuyama & Chiharu Shida (Jpn) bt Ashwini Ponnappa & N. Sikki Reddy 21-14, 21-18 .
