Manu-Sumeeth, Jwala-Ashwini advance to Indonesia Open second round

India's doubles pairs of Manu Attri and B. Summeth Reddy and Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa advanced to the second round of the Indonesia Open Superseries Premier badminton tournament here on Wednesday.

Manu-Sumeeth brushed past the Filipino pair of Peter Gabriel Magnaye and Alvin Morada 21-13, 21-16 in 32 minutes at the Istora Gelora Bung Karno Stadium.

In the next round -- also serving as the pre-quarterfinal, the Indian pair will be up against the South Korean sixth seeded combine of Ko Sung Hyun and Shin Baek Cheol, who crushed the local qualifiers Calvin Kristanto and Bagas Maulana 21-11, 21-14.

In the women's doubles opening round, Jwala-Ashwini saw off Indonesians Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma and Ribka Sugiarto 21-7, 20-22, 21-10 in 39 minutes.

For a place in the last eight stage, Jwala-Ashwini will have to battle it out against the Chinese pair of Huang Yaqiong and Tang Jinhua, who stunned Danish fifth seeded pair of Christinna Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl 23-21, 14-21, 21-10.

Meanwhille, Sameer Verma was outclassed by Malaysian world No.2 Lee Chong Wei 11-21, 13-21 in 35 minutes.

Among the top names in the men's singles, Chinese top seed Chen Long got a walkover from Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia, while his compatriot and five-time world champion Lin Dan dropped the first game before recovering to overcome Malaysia's Zulfadli Zulkiffli 16-21, 21-18, 21-16 in an hour and 10 minutes.

The second round of the women's singles action will take place on Thursday, with Indian ace Saina Nehwal taking on Indonesian Fitriani Fitriani. Saina, who previously won here in 2009, 2010 and 2012, has been seeded eighth.

--IANS

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