Australian Open Super Series: Saina Nehwal advances, end of road for Sindhu

Saina Nehwal entered the second round of the women’s singles with a comfortable victory but P.V. Sindhu suffered an upset defeat in the opening round of the $750,000 Australian Open Super Series badminton tournament in Sydney on Wednesday.

In the men’s singles, Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma registered contrasting wins, but it was curtains for qualifier R.M.V. Gurusaidutt.

Saina, who had won the Australian Open title in 2014, outplayed Joy Lai of Australia with a dominating 21-10 21-14 win in just 29 minutes.

Youngster Tanvi Lad also advanced registering a come-from-behind 18-21, 21-14, 21-11 win over qualifier Tiffany Ho of Austr-alia in 52 minutes.

However, world no. 10 Sindhu was stunned 15-21 19-21 by South Korea’s Kim Hyo Min, ranked 40th in the world.

Srikanth, ranked 12th, posted an easy 21-16, 21-12 win over world no.11 N.G. Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong while Sameer prevailed over Indonesia’s Ihsan Maulana Mustofa 22-20, 15-21, 21-15 in a 53-minute contest.