Day 2, Yonex Denmark Open Superseries: Saina, Sindhu do well

World No. 1 Saina Nehwal and P.V. Sindhu have both progressed to Round 2 at the Denmark Open

It was an average second day for the Indian shuttlers at Yonex Denmark Open Supseries Premier at Odense as both female shuttlers,Saina Nehwal and P.V Sindhu, progressed through to the second round, with Kidambi Srikanth doing the same in the men’s singles. However, Parupalli Kashyap,H.S Prannoy and Ajay Jayaram were knocked out in the opener.

In the men’s doubles, the young Indian pair of Manu Attri and B.Sumeeth Reddy got the better of their English opponents; in the women’s doubles, the experienced pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa were shown the door.

Star Indian shuttler and World No. 1 Saina was stretched to her limits by Thai shuttler Busanan Ongbumrungpan. The Indian, who won the silver medal at the recently-held World Championships defeated the 17th-ranked Thai 23-21, 14-21, 21-18 in a nail-biting encounter which lasted an hour and nine minutes.

Busanan dominated the proceedings early on as she opened up to a four point lead at 4-8, but Nehwal clawed her way back by grabbing three quick points, eventually taking the lead by winning three again at 10-10.

Down 18-20 at one stage, Olympic bronze medalist Nehwal once again proved her mettle as she saved two game points and won the next few to pocket the opening game 23-21.

Busanan controlled the second game from the start, relying on a strong display of down the line smashes and deft net shots, the former World No.15 Thai badminton star enjoyed a 11-9 lead at the break. She further stretched her lead to seven points and sealed the game in her favor with ease by a scoreline of 14-21.

In the decider, Nehwal took a 6-2 lead early on, but Busanan caught up at 6-6 and then moved neck to neck with the Indian till 11-all. It was at this stage that Nehwal shifted her gears to put some pressure on the 19-year old from Bangkok. Leading by 13-12, Nehwal grabbed the next five points in quick succession to take a commendable lead.

The Indian player failed to convert the first four match point opportunities but clinched the fifth one to draw the curtains on the challenge of the Thai shuttler. This was Nehwal’s second consecutive win against Busanan in two months. She will next take on the World ranked 18th Japanese player, Minatsu Mitani.

Two-time World Championships bronze medalist and 13th ranked P.V Sindhu did not sweat in getting past the 26-year old Indonesian girl Maria Febe Kusumastuti. 20-year old from Hyderabad, who faltered in the second round of Korea Open Superseries defeated the World No. 30 Maria 21-13, 21-11 in just 33 minutes.

She will now play the third seed and World No. 4 Tai Tzu Ying of Taipei for a place in quarters. This would be the fifth meeting between these two shuttlers. In their previous four matches, Tai has won three whereas Sindhu has won just one.

World No. 5 Kidambi Srikanth had an easy outing against the compatriot and World No.26 Ajay Jayaram. The 22-year old Guntur native, who has been struggling with his form since the Indian Open Superseries victory in March looked in completely different touch as he outclassed his 24-year old opponent 21-10 21-14 in 30 minutes.

He will now take on the 12th ranked Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia for a place in the final eight.

It will be interesting to see how Srikanth plays his next match as he has lost in second round in nine last ten tournaments, them.

The 2011 World Championships bronze medal-winning doubles pair of Gutta and Ponappa, who are ranked 12th in the world suffered a 19-21, 18-21 loss against Japanese seventh seed, Reika Kakiiwa and Miyuki Maeda.

In the men’s doubles, World No. 20 Attri and Reddy, who recently made it to the finals of Dutch Open Grand Prix Gold, defeated the World ranked 23 Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge 24-21, 21-14 in 49 minutes. They will now battle out against the 8th seeds Lee Sheng Mu and Tsai Chia Hsin to seal their place in final eight of the tournament.