Saina, Srikanth sail into second round of Australian Superseries

Sydney: Leading Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth won their first round matches in contrasting styles at the Star Australian Open Superseries here on Wednesday. While women’s World No.1 Saina comfortably beat 67th-ranked Cheah Lyddia Yi Yu of Malaysia in straight games, World No.4 Srikanth pipped Hans-Kristian Vittinghus of Denmark in a thrilling decider. Among the Indians who made a first round exit were P.V. Sindhu, Parupalli Kashyap and R.M.V. Guru Sai Dutt, who managed to take a game off World No.1 Chen Long.

Defending champion Saina breezed past Cheah 21-12, 21-10 to enter the last 16 of the competition. The second seed next plays Sun Yu of China. World No.14 Sindhu, however, suffered a 21-18, 15-21, 23-25 loss against eighth seed Yihan Wang of China. Srikanth was the lone winner in the men’s singles, recovering to beat Vittinghus 14-21, 21-8, 22-20 in a match lasting 53 minutes. He plays Tian Houwei on Thursday.

His compatriot Kashyap went down against sixth seed Wang Zhengming in a marathon match, losing 26-24, 18-21, 20-22. Guru raised eyebrows by taking the first game from Long before the Chinese fought back to win 15-21, 21-9, 21-17.In the women’s doubles, Jwala and Ashwini dispatched the Dutch pairing of Samantha Barning and Iris Tabeling 21-13, 21-13. Earlier, Ashwini lost in the mixed doubles alongside Pranav Jerry Chopra.