Saina moves to China Open quarters, Sindhu ousted in Round 2
TOP SEED SAINA NEHWAL outshone Tee Jing Yi of Malaysia beating her 21-10, 19-21, 21-19 in the second round in just 55 minutes at the China Open Super Series Premier in Fuzhou, China.
It looked like an easy win for the Indian ace shuttler, who was in supreme form in the first round. But the Malaysian had surprises for everyone, and she pushed Saina to a decider.
The third set was a scary one for the Indian shuttler and her supporters. Tee Jing took the lead initially, and the game was almost for Saina. Eventually, Saina won three game points which led her to the victory and helped qualify for the third round. She will now face Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the quarter-finals.
On the other hand, PV Sindhu lost against Wang Shixian of China in her second round match 21-18, 18-21, 16-21. The 20-year old Indian shuttler won the first set coming from behind and then lost the second set to a rather dominating Wang.
Sindhu was frustrated at the end of the second set with a sprain caught in her right foot. In the the third set, Wang was always a step ahead of Sindhu and the former's confidence was beaming as she was backed by the home support. Wang was just too good for Sindhu as she won the third set and the match to move ahead. The game went on for an hour and 38 minutes.
On the first day of the tournament, the male shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy and Ajay Jayaram were ousted along with the women doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa.
5th seed Srikanth lost to Hu Yun of Hong Kong 12-21, 18-21; Jayaram lost against top seed Chen Long of China 12-21, 11-21 while HS Prannoy went down fighting to Chinese Gou Kai 14-21, 21-17, 19-21.
The doubles pair lost to Japanese duo of Naoko Fukuman and Kurumi Yonao 16-21, 11-21 in just 34 minutes.
