Korea Open 2018: Saina Nehwal Advances To Second Round; Sameer Verma Bows Out

Star Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal defeated South Korean Kim Hyo Min in straight games to advance to the second round of the Korea Open 2018 in Seoul on Wednesday. In the men's singles match, Sameer Verma lost a three-game thriller to Denmark's Anders Antonsen to crash out of the tournament in the first round.

Fifth-seeded Saina Nehwal outclassed unseeded Kim Hyo Min 21-12, 21-11 in a match that lasted for 40 minutes. In the first game, Saina and Kim were tied at 2-2. However, Saina never looked back from there on and went on win the game. In the second game, Saina outclassed from the onset to register a dominating victory over her South Korean rival.

Meanwhile, unseeded Sameer Verma lost 21-15, 16-21 7-21 in his match that finished in 58 minutes.

In the first game, the match remained neck-in-neck till the first 12 points. However from there on Verma dominated the proceedings to close the game on 21-15. In the second game, Anders Antonsen dominated from the onset to win the game. Whereas, in the decider, Sameer Verma looked out of touch from the beginning to lose the match.

In another women's singles match, India's Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka lost to sixth-seeded Beiwen Zhang 10-21, 9-21 in a match that lasted for 19 minutes.