Jakarta: Women’s singles top seed Nozomi Okuhara of Japan has crashed out of Indonesia Masters in a lifeless fashion. The World No. 2 was dispatched 18-21, 17-21 in 41 minutes by unseeded Chen Xiaoxin of China on Wednesday.
Chen, who was part of the 2014 world junior mixed team champion, will take on Indonesia’s Ruselli Hartawan next.
Malaysia’s 2018 World Junior champion Goh Jin Wei couldn’t pick up her fourth straight victory against He Bingjiao, as she lost to the Chinese player in the opener only by a small margin. Goh put up a strong fight, but ultimately went down 21-16, 21-23, 20-22.
He Bingjiao will play Nitchaon Jindapol of Thailand next.
Last week’s Malaysia Masters women’s singles champion, Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand was able to overcome Soniia Cheah of Malaysia 21-15, 21-14 to set up a second round meeting with compatriot Busanan Ongbamrungphan.
Meanwhile, both Indian women’s singles player, including PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal have dished out superb performances on the opening day to advance to the second round.
The Rio Olympic and World Championship silver medalist Sindhu had to dig deep to prevail 22-24, 21-8, 21-17 against 2012 London Games Champion Li Xuerui of China in a 54-minute battle. Sindhu is set to play Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung next.
Saina Nehwal was able to recover from losing the first-game loss to secure a 7-21, 21-16, 21-11 win over Dinar Dyah Ayustine of Indonesia. The 28-year-old Nehwal will next face another Indonesian Fitriani Fitriani.
