Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth advance to the second round in Malaysia Open

Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth won their opening matches at the Malaysian Open

Kidambi Srikanth started his Malaysian Open campaign with a 21-10,15-21,24-22 win over Rajiv Ouseph of England.

The first game was evenly fought until 7-7 before the Indian won 10 straight points to take a 1-0 lead. It looked like a straight games win for Srikanth when he led 6-0 in the second game. However, Rajiv won six points in a row at 13-12 to even scores in the contest.

The final game had many twists and turns. Srikanth trailed 3-7 and 8-11, but fought back to clinch the third game thriller 24-22.

The World No. 4 will take on Tian Houwei of China in the next match.

Saina Nehwal cruised to the second round after a convincing 21-13, 21-16 win over Indonesia’s Maria Febe Kusumastuti. The Indian led 12-4 in the opening game and did not let her opponent back into the game when she won two points in a row at 19-13.

Maria fought back in the second game as she took a lead of 4-2, but Saina played an attacking game to lead 10-6. The Indonesian hung in there until 15-15 in the second game, but Saina was too good for her as she wrapped up the match in just 37 minutes.