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Saina enters Round 2; Sindhu knocked out in Australia

Last updated on: June 08, 2016 16:33 IST

 

IMAGE: India’s top-ranked shuttler Saina Nehwal. Photograph: PTI.

Star Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal entered the second round of women's singles with a comfortable victory, but P V Sindhu suffered an upset defeat in the opening round to crash out of the US $750,000 Australian Open Super Series badminton tournament, in Sydney, on Wednesday.

In the men's singles, India's Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma made the second round with contrasting victories, but it was curtains for qualifier R M V Gurusaidutt.

Saina, who had won the Australian Open title in 2014, hardly broke a sweat as she outplayed Joy Lai of Australia with a dominating 21-10, 21-14 victory in just 29 minutes.

The seventh seeded Indian will clash with Malaysia's Jin Wei Goh in the second round.

IMAGE: India's P V Sindhu in action. Photograph: Facebook.

However, world No. 10 Sindhu was stunned by South Korea's Kim Hyo Min, ranked 40th in the world, 15-21, 19-21 in 55 minutes, even as young Tanvi Lad registered a come-from-behind 18-21, 21-14, 21-11 victory over qualifier Tiffany Ho of Australia in 52 minutes.

She will next take on fourth seed Wang Yihan.

Srikanth, ranked 12th, posted an easy 21-16, 21-12 win over world No. 11 N G Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong in 32 minutes, while Sameer had to sweat it out before prevailing over Indonesia's Ihsan Maulana Mustofa 22-20, 15-21, 21-15 in 53 minutes.

Gurusaidutt, who qualified to the main draw after winning both his qualifying matches on Tuesday, lost 19-21, 21-12, 15-21 to world No. 14 Hu Yun of Hong Kong.

Srikanth will next face Indonesia's Sony Dwi Kuncoro, while Sameer will take on the winner of match between Anthony Sinisuka Ginting and Chou Tien-chen.

In the men's doubles, the Indian pair of Nikhar Garg and M Anilkumar Raju lost to eighth seeds V Shem Goh and Wee Kiong Tan of Malaysia 12-21, 10-21 in 16 minutes in the first round.

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