Fifth seed PV Sindhu takes on Indonesian teenager Fitriani Fitriani in Women's singles second round of 2017 Singapore Open on Thursday.
The world number two survived a tough battle in her opening round against world number 10 Nozomi Okuhara on Wednesday. Sindhu conceded the first game 10-21 but buckled up to take the match to the decider, in which she struggled to convert six match points before taking the match in the seventh with a scoreline of 10-21, 21-15, 22-20.
Fitriani, on the other hand, defeated higher-ranked Japanese shuttler Minatsu Mitani 15-21, 24-22, 21-17 in the first-round match that went on for an hour and five minutes.
Sindhu will be relieved after surviving a tough test in the first round against Okuhara, who had reached the semi-final of Malaysia Open last week. Notably, the Indian shuttler had exited Malaysia Open in the first-round after losing to Chen Yufei and the win yesterday should have boosted her morale.
With a potential quarter-final clash with reigning Olympic champion Carolina Marin awaiting her, Sindhu would not want another draining match today as she has to be at her best before facing the Spaniard, who is in fine form, reaching two Superseries final on the trot.
Sindhu and Fitriani met earlier this year for the first time at Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold and the former wrapped the match in just 38 minutes with a straight games win. Given the Indian shuttler's recent form, she will start today's match as the favourite as well.
Fitriani needs to punch above her weight if she is to stand a chance of progressing further in the tournament. Despite reaching the semi-final of two Grand Prix Gold tournaments this year (Syed Modi and Swiss Open), the Indonesian teenager will have an uphill task facing Sindhu, who will be aggressive from the word go in a bid to earn a dominant win later today.
