India's Saina Nehwal advanced to the second round of the Malaysia Open badminton championships as as Sameer Verma and the mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N. Sikki Reddy bowed out. Saina got past Hong Kong's Yip Pui Yin 21-12, 21-16 in 42 minutes in the first round to set-up a clash against Japanese second seed Akane Yamaguchi, who defeated Indonesian Dinar Dyah Ayustine 17-21, 21-12, 21-13. Sameer was thrashed by Indonesian Tommy Sugiarto, who registered an easy 21-13, 21-5 victory.
Good win against Yip pui yin from Hongkong China 21-12 , 21-16 .. #malaysianopen2018 #kualalumpur ... ( 1st round ) pic.twitter.com/sZGIRonySE
— Saina Nehwal (@NSaina) June 26, 2018
In this men's singles categories, veteran duo of Malaysian Lee Chong Wei and Chinese Lin Dan registered easy wins in their first round matches but Chinese fifth seed and 2016 Olympic champion Chen Long suffered an upset. Thai Kantaphon Wangcharoen stunned the Chinese star with a 23-21, 21-5 triumph in 48 minutes.
India's experienced mixed doubles pair of Pranaav and Sikki lost 16-21, 12-21 in 31 minutes to Chinese fourth seeds Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong.
The other Indian mixed doubles pair of Rohan Kapoor and Kuhoo Garg lost 9-21, 10-21 to Chinese eighth seeds He Jiting and Du Yue.
On Wednesday, India's PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, B Sai Praneeth will be in action in first-round matches.
- Saina Nehwal beat Hong Kong's Yip Pui Yin 21-12, 21-16
- Saina Nehwal beat her opponent in 42 minutes
- Sameer Verma and mixed double pair of Pranaav Chopra-Sikki Reddy exited
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