Kuala Lumpur: Continuing her winning run, star Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal sailed into the second round of the 500,000 dollar Malaysia Open Super Series Premier after beating Maria Febe Kusumastuti of Indonesia here on Wednesday.
Saina, who along with Kidambi Srikanth, clinched the India Open on Sunday, easily dumped Maria 21-13 21-16 in the opening round of the women’s singles.
Set to be crowned the world no 1 on Thursday, the Hyderabadi will next take on Chinese qualifier Yao Xue.
Earlier, World no 4 Srikanth edged out England’s Rajiv Ouseph 10-21 21-15 22-24 in men’s singles to set up a clash with World No 16 Tian Houwei of China in the second round on Thursday.
Also advancing to the second round were Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap and World No 17 HS Prannoy.
While World No 13 Kashyap moved past South Korean Lee Dong Keun 21-15, 11-21, 21-14 in an hour and 11 minutes, Prannoy defeated a spirited Irishman Scott Evans 22-20, 21-18 in 40 minutes.
However, Indian men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy was handed a 11-21, 17-21 thrashing in 30 minutes by the Indonesian team of Andrei Adistia and Hendra Aprida Gunawan. (UNI)
