The third seed needed just 34 minutes to win the first-round encounter. Sindhu was facing Zhang in the first round for the second straight tournament. The American shuttler had pulled off an upset over the world No 3 in Odense and Sindhu was looking to avoid an encore.

That was Zhang’s third consecutive win over Sindhu after triumphing in the final of the Indian Open earlier in 2018 and the Indonesia Masters in 2017.

Sindhu started the match well after a few tight early exchanges, pulling ahead 10-6 from 4-4. Zhang then started a fightback to take a 11-10 lead into the mid-game interval.

The second half started with both players trading serves but from 16-16, Sindhu won five of the next six points to draw first blood.

The lead changed as many times in the first game before Sindhu stepped up her game at the business end to clinch it 21-17.

The second game was a different story though. From 3-3, Sindhu won eight of the next nine points to take a commanding 11-4 lead into the break.

The second half was more of the same as the Indian No 1 put together another run of points, not letting Zhang back into the game.

Sindhu had eight match points and converted the first to seal her progress to the second round.