Canada Open Super 500: Lakshya Sen beats Kunlavut Vitidsarn in opening tie; PC Sindhu cruises to R2

World No 19 Lakshya Sen came up with an impressive 21-8, 21-15 win over second seed and familiar foe Kunlavut Vitidsarn in their first round tie at the Canada Open Super 500 event in Calgary.

In the women’s singles draw, PV Sindhu came up with a straight-forward win over Canada’s Talia Ng.

Struggling for form after a bout of illness, Sen trailed through most of the opening game but still kept within touching distance of an opponent he was playing for the ninth time, in a rivalry that started from their junior days. But at 18-18, Sen won the next three points in a row to take the opening game.

The pair started off the second keeping within distance of each other. At 14-14 though, Sen won seven of the next eight points to secure a spot in the second round.

He now reduces their head-to-head deficit to 4-5.

Sen next plays Brazil’s Ygor Coelho, who beat India’s B Sai Praneeth 21-12, 21-17 in their opening round match.

Birthday girl Sindhu

Playing on her 28th birthday, Sindhu took 36 minutes to beat Ng 21-16, 21-9.

Both Sindhu and Ng started off the match by staying relatively close to each other on the scoreline until 13-13. That’s when Sindhu built up a four-point lead which she would...

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