Sindhu storms into Paris Olympics women's singles pre-quarterfinals

PARIS: Ace Indian shuttler PV Sindhu stormed into the pre-quarterfinals of the Olympic Games' women's singles competition after beating Kristin Kuuba of Estonia in straight games here on Wednesday.

The two-time Olympic medallist won 21-5 21-10 in her second and last Group M match that lasted 33 minutes.

The 29-year-old Sindhu, who had beaten Maldives' Fathimath Abdul Razzaq 21-9 21-6 in her first match, topped the group.

The winner of each of the 16 groups qualifies for the round of 16.

"I'm very happy. It was important for me to top the group. I would be playing against He Bingjiao mostly. I hope I take this confidence and go forward. It's not going to be easy, especially in the next coming rounds, so I have to be prepared and be 100%," Sindhu said after the match.

The Indian ace has previously won a silver medal in the 2016 Rio Games and a bronze in the Tokyo edition.

"I think it's one match at a time and obviously I want that medal and I feel really happy when people say that we want a hat-trick from you, we want that medal from you.

"But at the same time, it comes with a lot of responsibilities, lot of pressure but it's important for me to just stay calm and just keep going and just one match at a time because yeah, you can't expect easy wins, you have to fight hard to earn it."

Just like in her first match, Sindhu did not have to toil much, as the gulf in class between the two players was evident.

The Estonian, ranked 73rd in the world as against the 13th position of the Indian, was completely out of sorts in the first game which Sindhu pocketed in 14 minutes.

The 27-year-old Kuuba gave a fight in the second game, making a lot of retrievals, but Sindhu was just too good for her.

Kuuba took a 2-0 lead but Sindhu quickly seized the initiative and levelled the score. But Kuuba did not throw in the towel and engaged the Indian in longer rallies.

There was one rare moment when Sindhu was stretched to the maximum near the net and Kuuba smashed the shuttle beyond the reach of the Indian.

But the vastly experienced Sindhu was in her elements soon after.

Two cross-court smashes gave Sindhu a 15-6 lead and from there on, it was all over for the Estonian, who saved two match points before surrendering.