Saina starts with victory, Lin shocked

New Delhi, Nov. 15: Saina Nehwal entered the China Open women’s singles second round with a straightgame win over USA’s Zhang Beiwan in Fuzhou, China, on Wednesday.

Saina, who recently won the nationals beating P.V. Sindhu in the final, needed 30 minutes to tame Zhang 2112, 21-13 in her tournament opener.

She will face fifth seed Akane Yamaguchi, who beat China’s Chen Xiaoxin 21-12, 21-14, in the next round.

Saina trails the Japanese 13 in head-to-head record with their last three meetings going in Yamaguchi’s favour.

In men’s singles, Sourabh Verma lost in the first round to France’s Brice Leverdez 14-21, 21-15, 11-21.

In men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also failed to cross the opening hurdle, losing to China’s Cheng Liu and Nan Zhang 13-21, 13-21.

Sindhu faces Sayaka Sato of Japan in her first round match while H.S. Prannoy meets Keun Dong Lee of South Korea in his opening singles encounter.

In mixed doubles, Rankiredddy and Ashwini Ponappa open their campaign against Denmark’s Mathias Christiansen and Christinna Pedersen.

Meanwhile, Lin Dan saved seven match points before being dumped out of the first round, stunned by Indonesia’s world number 17 Jonatan Christie.

The 19-21, 16-21 defeat will ramp up speculation that the 34-year-old Lin who is also widely regarded as the best badminton player of all time, may soon take the retirement from the game.