Saina sails into second round of Malaysian Open

Saina will meet second seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the second round.

Saina will look to continue her good form in the Malaysian Open.

India’s Olympic medallist shuttler Saina Nehwal sailed into the second round of the USD 700,000 Malaysian Open with a convincing 21-12 21-16 win over Yip Pui Yin of Hong Kong here on Tuesday. She cleared her first hurdle in 42 mintues at the Axiata Arena.

Saina, who had won gold at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, has been in good form of late and she will look to continue in similar vein.

However, the Indian has been drawn in a tough group and is meeting second seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the second round.

Saina gave ample glimpse of her fitness and form en route to winning her match.

In the men’s singles, Sameer Verma lost to Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto 13-21, 5-21 and crashed out of the competition.

The mixed doubles pairing of Rohan Kapoor and Kuhoo Garg too suffered a first round loss, 9-21, 10-21, against eighth seeds He Jiting and Du Yue of China.

Rejuvenated after a month-long break, India’s other top shuttlers, including P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth, will also resume their quest for glory in the south-east Asia leg of BWF world tour.