SINGAPORE, June 19: Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal crossed the first-round hurdle in women’s singles, while Sai Praneeth B stunned world No 4 Yun Hu of Hong Kong to enter the second round of men’s singles of the Singapore Super Series here today.
However, it was curtains for all other Indians who suffered defeats in their respective opening round matches to crash out of the tournament.
Saina avenged her quarterfinal loss at the Thailand Open by Juan Gu with a comfortable straight-game win over the Singaporean.
The World No 2 Indian took 40 minutes to pack off world No 21 Juan with a scoreline of 21-14 23-21 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium to record her fifth victory over the local player.
The 23-year-old from Hyderabad will next take on Japanese Eriko Hirose, who holds a 3-2 record against the Indian. The world No 12 had spoilt Saina’s All England campaign when she beat her in straight games in the quarterfinals in the 2011 edition.
Saina surged ahead to a 5-1 lead initially but Juan clawed back with four straight points. However, the Indian didn’t allow Juan much chance after that and successfully kept her at bay to earn the bragging rights.
In the second game, Juan was impressive as she held a 10-5 lead early on but Saina bounced back to level par at 12-12. After a brief fight, Saina was successful in grabbing the lead at 19-16 but Juan didn’t want to go down without a fight.
The Singaporean produced a four-point burst to lead 20-19 but it was Saina who had the last laugh in the end. (PTI)
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