China Open 2018: PV Sindhu powers past Japan's Saena Kawakami in straight games to enter pre-quarter-finals

Changzhou: Olympic and World Championship silver-medallist PV Sindhu on Tuesday progressed to the pre-quarterfinals of the USD one million China Open World Tour Super 1000 tournament. [caption id=“attachment_4901281” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of India’s PV Sindhu. AP[/caption] The third-seeded Indian defeated World No 39 Saena Kawakami of Japan 21-15, 21-13 in the opening round at the Olympic Sports Center Xincheng Gymnasium. The match started out as a close contest with Sindhu and Saena before the Indian broke off to grab a 13-7 lead at one stage. She kept dominating the rallies and pocketed the opening game without much trouble. In the second game, Sindhu zoomed to a 6-0 lead but Saena managed to make it 8-10 before the Indian entered the interval with a slender 11-9 lead. After the break, Sindhu jumped to 15-11 before grabbing eight match points at 20-12 and sealed it comfortably.