Harpal Singh Bedi
Playing on the badminton courts of the Markin-MacPhail Centre, Sindhu and Talia went toe-to-toe in the early stages. With the scorestied at 13-all, the Indian unleashed a series of smashes to gain the upper hand and claimed the opening game.
Sindhu continued with the momentum into the second game as she led Talia Ng 4-0 early on. The Canadian offered a brief resistance toreduce the gap to 6-5. However, the local favourite failed to match the Indian’s intensity who bagged seven consecutive pointsand wrapped up the match with ease.
World no 15 Sindhu will take on Japan’s world No. 27 Natsuki Nidaira in the round of 16.
Later in the day, Lakshya Sen and second seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn were involved in a intense encounter but the Indian held his nervesto take the lead. The second game, too, was a closely-fought affair. Sen ,however, raised his game in the final exchanges and sealed the encounter in 38 minutes.
In the other singles matches, B Sai Praneeth crashed out after losing 21-12, 21-17 to Brazil’s Ygor Coelho, who will be Lakshya Sen’sopponent in the second round.
Another Indian Gadde Ruthvika Shivani lost 21-12, 21-3 to Thailand’s Supanida Katethong in the first round of the women’s singles.
The Canada Open is the fourth Super 500 tournament of the 2023 BWF World Tour calendar after Indonesia Masters, Malaysia Masters and theThailand Open.