Saina, Srikanth cruise into 2nd round of Denmark Open; mixed luck in doubles
WORLD NO. 1 SHUTTLER Saina Nehwal started her campaign at the USD 650,000 Denmark Open Super Series Premier in Odenese with a win over Thailand’s Busanan Ongbumrungphan in the opening round on Wednesday. After the end of a hard-fought contest which lasted an hour and nine minutes, Saina saw off Busanan 23-21 14-21 21-18.
Was a very tough match against Thailand today I won in three sets 23-21,14-21,21-18 . đ pic.twitter.com/YxDtXMZaXK
— Saina Nehwal (@NSaina) October 14, 2015
The World Championship silver medallist will next take on the winner of the match between Japan’s Minatsu Mitani and Thailand’s Porntip Buranaprasertsuk.
Busanan dominated the proceedings early on but Saina came back strong making it 9-9. But then again the Thai girl took control of the game and the score was 20-18. However, Saina didn’t give up and eventually turned the tables and pocketed it in her favour.
The second set was won by the Thai and took the game to the third set. In the decider, Saina held on to a 6-2 lead but Busanan caught up at 6-6 and then moved and then the game became crucial as the scores were levelled at 11-11.
After the break, the No. 1 shuttler zoomed ahead with a five point lead and eventually to the second round showing that she is on the top for a reason.
In other matches, Sindhu beat Indonesia's Maria Febe Kusumastuti 21-13, 21-11 in just 33 minutes to enter the second round, where as Kashyap lost 14-21, 15-21 to former World No.1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia. The former World No.1 took just 47 minutes to win the match
In the mens singles category two Indians were up against each other, Dutch Open winner Ajay Jayaram had to bow out after losing to Kidambi Srikanth 10-21, 14-21.
In the men's and women's doubles category there were mixed emotions as Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy qualified for the second round beating Chris Langridge and Marcus Ellis 24-22, 21-13 while Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa were ousted by Reika Kakiiwa and Miyuki Maeda 21-19, 21-18.
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