Singapore Open: Saina exacts revenge on Juan, romps into second round

India’s Saina Nehwal outlasted Singapore’s world number 21 Juan Gu in straight games 21-14, 23-21 to romp into the second round of the Singapore Open Super Series badminton tournament.

The Indian badminton star thus exacted sweet revenge on Juan, who showed her the championship exit door in the quarterfinals of the recently-held SGC Thailand Open in three games.

Saina started quickly off the blocks and did not allow Juan to play her natural game. The world number two kept unleashing winners on a consistent basis to march ahead. Saina won five consecutive points to strengthen her position before closing it at 21-14.

Juan came back out all guns blazing in the second game and raised visions of the grit she showed in the Thailand Open against Saina. The Indian kept things spick and span from her end and forced Juan to make errors at crucial times.

Both players went neck-and-neck as the game went into deuce.

The Indian squandered one game point before closing it at 23-21 to set up a second round meeting with Japan’s world number 12 Eriko Hirose.

Saina is the lone Indian survivor in the women’s singles category.

Earlier, PC Thulasi fought valiantly against Indonesia’s world number 14 Lindaweni Fanetri, taking the opening game before losing 23-21, 16-21, 16-21.

Another Indian woman to fall by the wayside was Arundhati Panthawane.

The 61^st ranked Indian, who made it to the main draw through the qualifying round, lost to Bulgaria’s 26^th ranked Petya Nedelcheva 18-21, 18-21 in a contest that lasted 37 minutes.

Earlier, the Indian camp received a big boost when B Sai Praneeth caused the biggest upset of the Singapore Open Super Series event when he outclassed second seed and world number 4 Yun Hu in straight games 21-9, 21-10 to storm into the men’s singles second round.

The win is a sweet revenge for Praneeth, who had lost to Yun in their only previous meeting in the 2009 Vietnam International Challenge tournament, where he lost in straight games 19-21, 12-21.

38^th ranked Anand Pawar lost to top-seed Du Pengyu of China 16-21, 13-21 in the opening round.

25^th ranked Ajay Jayaram fought hard before caving in to fourth seed Kenichi Tago of Japan 19-21, 21-18, 17-21.

42^nd ranked Sourabh Varma also went down to Hong Kong’s world number 14 Wing Ki Wong in straight games 17-21, 17-21.