PARIS: India's ace shuttler PV Sindhu defeated Denmark's Julie Jakobsen in straight sets to advance into the second round of the women's singles event at the French Open 2021 on Wednesday.
Battling it out at the Court 2 of Stade Pierre de Coubertin, the two-times Olympic medallist and reigning world champion, Sindhu defeated Jakobsen by 21-15, 21-18 in 35 minutes to reach the round of 16. She will next face Line Christophersen of Denmark.
Elsewhere, London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal was forced to retire from her opening round match with an injury. Saina Nehwal was trailing 21-11, 9-2 against Japan's Sayaka Takahashi in her women's singles clash when she decided to concede.
Earlier, Lakshya Sen stormed into the men's singles round of 16. The 20-year-old defeated Ireland's Nhat Nguyen 21-10, 21-16 in 45 minutes. Sourabh Verma also went into the men's singles round of 32. He defeated Brazil's Ygor Coelho 22-20, 21-19.
In another men's singles round of 32, Parupalli Kashyap took local favourite Brice Leverdez the distance but the French shuttler prevailed in 64 minutes by 21-17, 17-21, 21-11. HS Prannoy was overwhelmed 11-21, 14-21 in his men's singles round of 32 match against Chou Tien-chen of Chinese Taipei.
In men's doubles round of 32 clash, Indian fifth seeds Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy come from a game down to beat Chinese Taipei's Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan 18-21, 21-17, 21-13. MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila also won their men's doubles round of 32 match against Joshua Magee and Paul Reynolds from Ireland in just 31 minutes.