India Open: Saina, Sindhu enter second round

Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu won their opening round matches of the India Open Superseries in contrasting styles at the Siri Fort Stadium on Wednesday.

In the post-noon session of an excellent day for India, Nehwal wasn’t too troubled by Indonesia’s Belaetrix Manuputi as she shut her out in 33 minutes. Sindhu, taking on the fast-improving Yao Xue of China, was made to sweat, but still came through 17-21 21-18 21-14.

But the most stunning result of the day was young K Srikanth’s three-game defeat of fourth seed Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark. Srikanth’s 21-7 18-21 21-12 in the morning session provided plenty of momentum for the rest of his compatriots. Among those who followed him to the second round were Guru Sai Dutt, HS Prannoy, Ajay Jayaram, and Sai Praneeth. In the paired events, V Diju and Jwala Gutta made it to the next round, but Tarun Kona and Ashwini Ponnappa were unlucky to lose a tight three-setter to the recently-crowned Asian champions.

Nehwal had little problems against Manuputi, leading 19-6 in the first game before easing her foot off the pedal and allowing the Indonesian to get into double figures. The second game was closer, but after the midway point the Indian powered ahead.

“She is a talented player,” said Nehwal. “She was very tricky. I was ready for some of her strokes, and scored points with my smashes.” Saina said her long rest after the All England had helped heal a troubled knee.

Shortly after Saina sealed her place in the second round, compatriot PV Sindhu was faced with a difficult opponent. Yao Xue of China is very much in the mould of her senior compatriots like Wang Yihan and Li Xuerui – standing around 6 ft tall, lean and whippy, she fired one winner after another to put Sindhu under severe pressure in the first game.

But the lanky Indian, who scored a memorable win over the formidable Chinese Wang Shixian at the Asian Championships last week, scripted a turnaround. “My coach told me to get aggressive,” she said, “He asked me to shout out a bit more, and that helped.”

Sindhu turned the tide with some clever badminton; using the flicks and soft shots to throw Yao Xue off rhythm. The match was won, and another Chinese awaits her: Sun Yu. Asked about her potential quarterfinal against Saina, Sindhu laughed. “I want to take it one match at a time,” she said. “I have to think about the second round first, before thinking of the quarterfinal.”