Hong Kong Open: Saina reaches second round, Jayaram stuns World no. 17

India’s badminton icon Saina Nehwal made a decent beginning in the Yonex Sunrise Hong Kong Open, pipping Indonesia’s Aprilla Yuswandari 22-20, 21-8 to reach the second round today.

The world number three, who took a brief break from competitive action, had to counter stiff resistance from the world number 34 Indonesian in the opening game before making a mincemeat of her in the second game.

In the men’s singles, India’s Ajay Jayaram also caused a huge surprise, stunning world number 17 Wang Zhengming 22-20, 23-21. The 27th ranked Indian had to dig deep into his reserves against a player ranked ten places above him, winning the opening game at 22-20. The second game was also an intensely contested game but Jayaram pulled through 23-21.

It may be mentioned here that Zhengming had halted the semifinal run of Parupalli Kashyap at the China Open recently.