Saina Nehwal, Parupalli Kashyap and K Srikanth through to the second round of China Open Superseries

Saina Nehwal

Impressive win for Saina

It was a good opening day for the Indian shuttlers at the last Superseries Premier tournament of the year as Saina Nehwal, Parupalli kashyap and K.Srikanth made their way to the second round of the Championships. In women’s singles, star Indian shuttler and World No. 5 Saina Nehwal defeated World No. 15 Japanese shuttler Sayaka Takahashi 21-14, 19-21, 21-17 in a match which lasted 58 minutes.

Saina Nehwal, who is seeded sixth in this tournament started the match with a bang as she took a strong seven points lead before the mid-game interval of the first game. Saina further increased her lead and sealed the opening game with ease.

Takahashi, who was trailing by 3-8 in the second game won the next five points in quick succession to level the scores. Takahashi then took a strong five points lead after the mid-game interval, but Saina fought her way back to equal the scores at 19 all. Takahashi won the next couple of points to level the match.

The third game was a lot more evenly contested as both players fought hard for each and every point. From 12-all, Saina grabbed the next four points to take a decent lead. Takahashi tried her level best to make a comeback, but her efforts were not enough as Saina won three points in a row from 16-13 to take a stranglehold on the lead and eventually clinched the game.

Saina is the only Indian shuttler in this category as two-time World Championships bronze medalist and World No. 10 P.V Sindhu is not playing in this tournament. Saina will now play the winner of the match between Fen Mangyan and Qin Jinjing.

Srikanth and Kashyap advance

In men’s singles, K.Srikanth and Parupalli Kashyap won their respective first round matches to progress to the next round. World No. 16 K Srikanth defeated the qualifier and compatriot R.M.V Gurusaidutt 21-11, 9-21, 21-15 in a match which ended in 48 minutes.Srikanth will now play the winner of the match between Huan Gao and Kenichi Tago.

World No. 17 Parupalli Kashyap defeated the World No. 21 Nan Wei of Hong Kong 24-22, 19-21, 21-15 in a nail biting opening encounter which lasted for an hour and eight minutes.

Kashyap, who made it to the quarterfinals of French Open and semifinals of Denmark Open will now play World No. 53 Chinese ace Xue Song for a place in quarters. Song caused a huge upset in the first round as he defeated the 8th seed and World No. 9 Houwei Tian.

This would be the first meeting between these two shuttlers.

It was a disappointing day in men’s doubles as young Indian pair of Manu Attri and B.Sumeeth Reddy lost to the 7th seeded Chinese pair of Liu Xiaolong and Zihan Qiu 12-21, 15-21.