Saina, Srikanth advance, Jwala-Ashwini lose at Denmark Open

Leading Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth entered the second round but the doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa crashed out in the first round of the $650,000 Denmark Open Superseries Premier here on Wednesday.

World Championships 2015 bronze medallist Saina fought hard for a 23-21, 14-21, 21-18 win against world No.17 Busanan Ongbumrungphan of Thailand.

World No.1 Saina took an hour and nine minutes to set up the next encounter against world No.18 Minatsu Mitani of Japan, who took only 25 minutes to dispose Thai Porntip Buranaprasertsuk 21-10, 21-4.

Olympic bronze medallist Saina holds a 5-3 advantage in career meetings against the Japanese. But the Japanese has won all her match in the last four encounter against the 25-year-old Hyderabadi.

The 2011 World Championships bronze medal-winning doubles pair of Jwala and Ashwini suffered a 19-21, 18-21 loss against Japanese seventh seed Reika Kakiiwa and Miyuki Maeda.

Fifth seed Srikanth moved past compatriot and World No.26 Ajay Jayaram 21-10, 21-14 in 32 minutes.

In the doubles, world No.20 pair of Manu Atri and B. Sumeeth Reddy battled past Englishmen Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge 24-22, 21-13 in in 49 minutes.