China Masters: Sindhu overcomes Jakobsen in first round

Star India shuttler P.V. Sindhu overcame the first-round hurdle with ease, defeating Denmark’s Julie Dawall Jakobsen in straight games to advance to the women’s singles pre-quarterfinals of the China Masters Super 750 in Shenzhen on Wednesday.

Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist, needed just 27 minutes to dispatch Jakobsen 21-4, 21-10. The result comes less than 10 days after her opening-round loss at the Hong Kong Open Super 500, where she fell to another Dane, Line Christophersen.

The 30-year-old, who has endured six first-round exits on the BWF World Tour this season, looked sharp from the outset. She raced to a commanding lead in the opener, wrapping it up in just over 10 minutes. The second game followed a similar pattern: Sindhu went up 4-1 before Jakobsen briefly levelled at 4-4. From there, Sindhu asserted control with her experience and superior shot-making, reeling off six straight points to move from 11-8 to 17-8 before closing out the match.

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The two had last met in the opening round of the Yonex Swiss Open in March, where Jakobsen had pushed Sindhu to work much harder.

Later in the day, young Ayush Shetty will face sixth seed Chou Tien Chen in a men’s singles opener. Shetty, who stunned Japan’s Kodai Naraoka last week, will look to extend his good run. In mixed doubles, Ruthvika Gadde and Rohan Kapoor take on Japan’s Yuichi Shimogami and Sayaka Hobara.

Published on Sep 16, 2025