PV Sindhu dominates Wong Ling Ching to seal Japan Open 2nd round spot

Two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu cruised to a straight-sets win over Malaysia’s Wong Ling Ching to advance to the second round of the women’s singles at the Japan Open Super 750 badminton tournament here on Tuesday.

World number one Sindhu, the 2019 world champion, produced a compact performance to win 21-14 21-11 over Wong, ranked world No.37, in the opening round.

India’s Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto also advanced to the second round after beating Scotland’s Alexander Dunne and Julie Macpherson 21-16, 21-14 in their mixed doubles opener.

However, Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde were eliminated in the opening round after losing 11-21, 10-21 to top seeds Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dong Ping of China.

Sindhu vs Wong

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Sindhu controlled proceedings from the start and dictated the pace of the rally to open up a 7-4 lead. Although Wong struggled to stay in touch, her unforced errors allowed the Indian to steadily pull away and take an 11-6 advantage into the mid-game break.

The Indian ace looked comfortable in the rally and mixed her shots effectively to extend her lead to 14-9. Her backhand dribbles to the net, deft drops and well-disguised half smashes came out with precision.

While there were a few stray errors, including a long throw and a shot at the net by the Indian, Wong was unable to capitalize on those opportunities.

A straight smash earned Sindhu seven game points and she completed the opening game at the second ask.

Sindhu continued in similar fashion after switching sides, racing to an 8-2 lead before opening up an 11-3 cushion at the break.

The gap only widened after that as Wong continued to struggle with her accuracy, allowing Sindhu to take a 16-5 lead. The Malaysian briefly strung together three points before another error handed the initiative back to the Indian.

A slam into the net from Wong gave Sindhu 10 match points. The Indian wasted the first with a long return before Wong found the net on the next point to give Sindhu a comfortable straight-sets win.

Later in the day, third seeds Satwiksiraj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will face Denmark’s Daniel Lundgaard and Mads Vestergaard in the men’s doubles opening round.

Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun will take on Chinese Taipei’s Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan in the other men’s doubles.

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Issued by:

sabyasachi chowdhury

Published on:

14 Jul 2026 13:00 IST