Malaysia Masters: Sindhu, Saina advance; Srikanth, Kashyap crash out

Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu sailed into the second round while B. Sai Praneeth and Kidambi Srikath crashed out of the Malaysia Masters.

Saina Nehwal is through to the second round at Malaysia Masters.

Saina Nehwal sailed into the second round with a convincing win over Belgium’s Lianne Tan but World championships bronze-medallist B Sai Praneeth Kidambi Srikanth crashed out of the Malaysia Masters badminton tournament here on Wednesday.

The London Olympics bronze medallist Saina beat Tan 21-15, 21-17 in just 36 minutes. This was the first time the two were facing each other. Saina, who claimed the Indonesia Masters last year, has struggled since making a series of early exits in the rest of the year.

Meanwhile, reigning world champion Sindhu, seeded sixth, took just 35 minutes to beat Evgeniya Kosetskaya of Russia 21-15, 21-13 in the first round.

Earlier, Praneeth made a first-round exit after going down tamely to Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke 11-21, 15-21. Srikanth lost his second seed encounter to Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen 17-21 5-21 in only 30 minutes.

Even Parupalli Kashyap crashed out in the first round. Kento Momota beat the Indian 17-21, 16-21 in a match that lasted 43 minutes.