All England Open Championships: Sindhu, Saina advance to second round

Birmingham, March 17

Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal advanced to the second round of the 2022 All England Open Badminton Championships after winning their respective women's singles matches, here on Wednesday.

Sindhu, the world No 7, defeated Chinese world No 17 Wang Zhi Yi 21-18, 21-13 in her first round match of the BWF Super 1000 tournament.

Two time Olympic medallists began the match strongly and raced to a handy lead after the early exchanges. Wang Zhi Yi tried to pull the game back but Sindhu's early momentum proved to be the difference.

In the second game, the India ace continued to dominate her Chinese opponent and went up 9-0 in quick time. She went on to seal the match in 42 minutes.

Sindhu, the sixth seed in the tournament, will now face the winner of the match between Japan's Sayaka Takahashi and Supanida Katethong of Thailand in the second round.

Meanwhile, Saina Nehwal, ranked world No 25, defeated world No 51 Beatriz Corrales of Spain 21-17, 21-19 in straight games.

Corrales had replaced Saina Nehwal's initial opponent, Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand. The world No. 10 Thai shuttler pulled out from the tournament at the last minute. Nehwal may come up against world No 2 Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the second round.

In men's singles, HS Prannoy lost to German Open champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn 21-15 24-22 while former world championships bronze medallist B Sai Praneeth went down to Tokyo Olympics champion Viktor Axelsen 22-20, 21-11, an olympics.com report said.

Top Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen, who won silver at the German Open last week, will be in action against Indian compatriot Sourabh Verma later in the day. On the other hand, Kidambi Srikanth, ranked world No. 12, will be up against Thai world No 21 Kantaphon Wangcharoen later while Parupalli Kashyap will take on world No 5 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting.

In women's doubles, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand stunned India Open champions Benyapa Aimsaard and Nuntakarn Aimsaard 17-21, 22-20, 21-14. However, Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy lost to Japan's Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi 21-9, 21-13 and made an early exit.

Top Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, ranked world No 8, beat Scotland's Alexander Dunn and Adam Hall 21-17, 21-19. The Indians saved four game points against the world No. 36 pair in the second game to move into the next round.