Swiss Open: Saina Nehwal off to winning start, Parupalli Kashyap enters third round

Saina Nehwal made a winning start to her campaign in the women's singles event, while top Indian male shuttlers Parupalli Kashyap and Anand Pawar eased into the third round of the Swiss Grand Prix Gold tournament here.

London Olympics bronze medallist Saina opened her campaign in the women's singles event with a straight game win over qualifier Chisato Hoshi of Japan. The sixth seeded Indian beat her Japanese opponent 21-12 21-12 in 34 minutes to progress to the second round.

Saina will next face Sashina Vignes Waran of France later on Thursday, while the other Indian in fray in the women's singles event -- seventh seed P V Sindhu will be up against Canadian Li Michelle in her second round duel.

Kashyap, seeded third, took 33 minutes to dispose off Lukas Schmidt of Germany 21-15 21-14 last night to secure his place in the pre-quarterfinals of the men's singles event. While Kashyap looked a little bit shaky a times, Pawar was at his clinical best as he fended off challenge from another German Tobias Wadenka 21-11 21-4 in just 24 minutes.

Kashyap will next face Beryno Jiann Tze Wong of Malaysia, while Pawar has a tough task at hand as he takes on sixth seed Tien Chen Chou of Chinese Taipei later on Wednesday.