Saina advances; Sameer, Pranaav-Sikki exit Malaysia Open

India's Saina Nehwal advanced to the second round, as Sameer Verma and the mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N. Sikki Reddy exited the Malaysia Open badminton championships in the opening round.

Saina got past Hong Kong's Yip Pui Yin 21-12, 21-16 in 42 minutes in the first round to set-up a clash against Japanese second seed Akane Yamaguchi, who defeated Indonesian Dinar Dyah Ayustine 17-21, 21-12, 21-13.

Sameer got a thrashing from Indonesian Tommy Sugiarto, who registered an easy 21-13, 21-5 victory.

In this men's singles categories, veteran duo of Malaysian Lee Chong Wei and Chinese Lin Dan registered easy wins in their first round matches but Chinese fifth seed and 2016 Olympic champion Chen Long suffered an upset. Thai Kantaphon Wangcharoen stunned the Chinese star with a 23-21, 21-5 triumph in 48 minutes.

India's experienced mixed doubles pair of Pranaav and Sikki lost 16-21, 12-21 in 31 minutes to Chinese fourth seeds Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong.

The other Indian mixed doubles pair of Rohan Kapoor and Kuhoo Garg lost 9-21, 10-21 to Chinese eighth seeds He Jiting and Du Yue.

On Wednesday, India's P.V. Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, B. Sai Praneeth will be in action in first-round matches.

--IANS

pur/bg