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The Olympic silver medallist registered an easy 21-13 21-19 win in a match that lasted less than 30 minutes. Sindhu, who is seeded third, hardly broke a sweat in the first game. She won six consecutive points to take a 1-0 lead.
The unseeded Russian tested Sindhu in the second game which went down to the wire. However, the Indian emerged victorious in the hard-fought encounter. The 23-year-old will now take on the unseeded Busanan Ongbamrungphan of Thailand in the second round.
In the women’s doubles, the pairing of Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy crashed out of the competition after losing in the first round. Ponanappa and Reddy lost 21-19 15-21 21-17 to the Japanese duo of Shiho Tanaka and Koharu Yonemoto.