Thailand Open Super 1000: Sameer Verma stuns Lee Zii Jia in opening round; PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth also win

Bangkok: PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth notched up straight-game wins, while Sameer Verma shocked World No 10 Lee Zii Jia as Indian shuttlers made impressive starts at the Toyota Thailand Open Super 1000 tournament on Tuesday. A week after being sent packing by Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt in the first event of the Asia leg, world champion Sindhu showed great discipline and focus to see off world no. 12 Busanan 21-17 21-13 in the women’s singles opener. In men’s singles, former world no. 1 Srikanth, who had withdrawn ahead of the second round last week due to a calf muscle pull, seemed to have recovered completely as he decimated another Thai player Sitthikom Thammasin 21-11 21-11 in 37 minutes. But the highlight of the day was the lion-hearted performance by world no 31 Sameer, who stunned eighth seed Lee 18-21 27-25 21-19 in a thrilling opening match. Olympic hopeful Saina Nehwal, however, bowed out after losing 17-21 8-21 to former world champion and home favourite Ratchanok Inthanon in a lop-sided contest. Saurabh Verma, brother of Sameer, also was knocked out, going down 16-21 11-21 to fifth seed Anthony Ginting of Indonesia, while Parupalli Kashyap retired at 0-3 against Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke. The win against Busanan took Sindhu’s head-to-head count against the Thai to 11-1. The only time the Indian lost to the Thai player was at the Hong Kong Open in 2019. “It was a good game and I’m very, very happy. This win was very important for me in this tournament because at last week’s tournament, I went out in the first round,” Sindhu said after the match. “So this win today was important, because even though in the first game it was tight, I didn’t want to make it easy,” she added. Sindhu will face either Korea’s Sung Ji Hyun or Soniia Cheah in the second round. Sindhu opened up a 8-6 lead in the opening game but Busanan managed to turn the tables, gaining a 13-9 advantage at one stage. The Indian slowly erased the deficit and moved to a 18-16 lead before earning the bragging rights. After the change of sides, Sindhu seemed more determined as she zoomed to a 7-2 lead before entering the break with a 11-5 advantage. Sindhu reached 19-8 with five straight points. She then mis-timed a shot and Busanan produced a cross-court smash. Sindhu also lost a point at the net. But Busanan eventually hit wide to hand seven match points to Sindhu and the Indian sealed the contest with a powerful smash.