Birmingham, Mar 11 (PTI) Indian badminton star PV Sindhu made a confident start at the All England Open, beating American Beiwin Zhang in straight games here on Wednesday.

The sixth seed and world number six Sindhu got the better of the American, ranked eight places below her, 21-14 21-17 in 42 minutes.

The second game was a close affair with the two players locked at 16-16. Sindhu, however, won five points in a row to clinch the issue.

It was the 10th meeting between the two players with Sindhu improving the head-to-head record to 6-4. The last time they met was at the Korea Open where the American won in three sets.

Sindhu will now clash with Korean Sung Ji Hyun for a place in the quarterfinals.

The mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy lost 13-21 21-11, 17-21 to top-seeded Chinese pair of Si Wei Zheng and Ya Qiong Huang.

Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth are scheduled to play later in the day.

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