Saina Nehwal wins but Parupalli Kashyap, PV Sindhu crash out of Hong Kong Super Series

Saina Nehwal advanced to the second round with an easy win but it turned out to be a disappointing day for the Indians overall as Parupalli Kashyap and P V Sindhu failed to cross the first hurdle in the Hong Kong Super Series here on Wednesday.

Looking for her first title of the season, world number seven Saina didn't break much sweat as she outplayed Indonesia's Bellaetrix Manuputty 21-14 21-16 in a 34-minute women's singles match.

The 23-year-old Indian will next take on Thailand's Porntip Buranaprasertsuk on Thursday.

However, it was curtains for Sindhu and Kashyap in the opening round of the USD 350,000 event, the last Super Series of the season.

World number 10 Sindhu lost 16-21 17-21 to second seed Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand in another women's singles match, while Kashyap suffered a 14-21 10-21 defeat at the hands of China's Zhengming Wang in men's singles competition.

Rising shuttler K Srikanth also crashed out in the opening round of men's singles after going down 18-21 14-21 to world number one Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia.

India's men's doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar, too, suffered a similar fate as the duo lost 18-21 19-21 to top seeded Indonesian combo of Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. Another Indian pair of Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy B were also send packing 9-21 15-21 by Russian pair of Vladimir Ivanov and Ivan Sozonov in a 26-minute match.

Saina, seeded seventh, was much superior than her world number 30 rival as she registered as many as 14 smash winners as compared to Bellaetrix.

The Olympic bronze medallist had beaten Bellaetrix during the Indian Open in April this year and didn't have to toil too much to record her second victory.

In the first game, Saina was at her dominating best as she didn't allow the Indonesian to come even close to her. She opened up a 5-0 lead and held on to a healthy lead all throughout the game.

In the second game, Saina took a 6-3 lead early on but Bellaetrix fought hard to claw back at 14-14. The Indian, however, didn't waste any more time and reeled off four straight points to quickly shut the door on her rival.

Saina will have to be careful in the next round against Porntip even though she enjoys a 6-0 lead over the Thai shuttler.

The last time, Saina and Porntip faced each other was in China during the World Championships and it was a three-game match.

 

Later in the day, Ajay Jayaram gave some cheers to Indian camp when he registered a straight-game victory over seventh seed Tien Minh Nguyen of Vietnam.

The Indian notched up a 21-7 21-12 win over his higher-ranked rival to set up a clash with Indonesia's Sony Dwi Kuncoro tomorrow.

Indian mixed doubles pair of Tarun Kona and Ashwini Ponnappa, however, could not cross the first hurdle as they suffered a 19-21 21-19 17-21 loss to seventh seeded Indonesian pair of Praveen Jordon and Vita Marissa.