Australian Super Series strong start for Saina Nehwal

Sydney: Newly-crowned Indonesia Open champion K. Srikanth and title holder Saina Nehwal progressed to the second round with contrasting wins at the Australian Super Series on Wednesday.

Olympic silver medallist P.V. Sindhu and Singapore Open champion B. Sai Praneeth also entered the second round but it was curtains for four other singles player, including giant-slayer H.S. Prannoy.

Srikanth continued his good form by defeating Chinese Taipei’s Kan Chao Yu 21-13, 21-16 in the men’s singles opening round while Sai Praneeth had to sweat it out to register a 10-21, 21-12, 21-10 win over Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto.

Srikanth next plays top seed Son Wan Ho of Korea, while Sai Praneeth will be up against China’s Huang Yuxiang.

In the women’s singles, Saina was up against a tough opponent in fourth seed Sung Ji Hyun of Korea but the former world no. 1 showed her class to win 21-10, 21-16.

Saina faces Malaysia’s Soniia Cheah in her next match.

Sindhu saw off Indonesia Super Series Premier champion Sayaka Sato of Japan 21-17, 14-21, 21-18 in a match that lasted an hour and five minutes. In the next round, the fifth seed faces China’s Chen Xiaoxin, who ended Ruthvika Shivani Gadde’s gallant fight in another match. Shivani fought for an hour before losing 17-21, 21-12, 12-21 to Chen.

The women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy defeated Australia’s Hsuan-Yu Wendy Chen and Jennifer Tam 21-11, 21-13 to reach the second round.

Young men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty dished out a gritty performance to knock out Hong Kong’s Law Cheuk Him and Lee Chun Hei Reginald 20-22, 21-19, 21-11.

However, it was curtains for Prannoy, who lost in the semi-finals in Indonesia, Ajay Jayaram, Parupalli Kashyap and Siril Verma in the men’s singles first round.

Up against seventh seed Ng Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong, Jayaram fought hard before losing 14-21, 21-10, 21-9.

Returning from injury, Kashyap too gave Son Wan Ho of Korea a run for his money before losing 21-18, 14-21, 21-15 in an energy-sapping match that last more than an hour.

Young Siril Verma was shown the door by Denmark’s Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus 16-21, 8-21 while Prannoy lost 19-21, 13-21 to England’s Rajiv Ouseph. The Indian men’s and women’s doubles pairs too endured tough fortunes.