Syed Modi Masters: Saina, Sindhu, Srikanth, Kashyap advance

Saina Nehwal and P.V. Sindhu entered the women's singles' second round, while Kidambi Srikanth and Parupalli Kashyap reached the third round of the $120,000 Syed Modi International India Masters at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium here Wednesday.

World No.4 and top seed Saina defeated Malaysian Yin Fun Lim 21-17, 21-12 in 43 minutes, while World No.11 Sindhu needed just 16 minutes to demolish compatriot Ekta Kalia 21-6, 21-12.

In the next match, Olympic bronze medal winner Saina will meet Rituparna Das, who battled past compatriot's qualifier Mukherjee Riya 21-7, 21-16. Two-time World Champions bronze medallist Sindhu will Thursday face Thailand's Chochuwong Pornpawee, who beat Indian Saili Rane 21-23, 21-15, 21-8.

Reigning world champion Carolina Marin of Spain also had it easy win over Gadde Ruthvika Shivani 21-9, 21-10 in 28 minutes, while Thai fourth seed Nichaon Jindapon advanced after Indian qualifier Yamini Sharma retired hurt. World No.19 Jindapon was leading the game 21-4, 9-0 when Yamini decided not to continue.

In the men's section, World No.4 Srikanth first beat Shreyansh Jaiswal 21-14, 21-13 before defeating Malaysian Kian Meng Tan 18-21, 21-13, 22-20 in the second round.

Commonwealth Games champion Kashyap fend off challenges from Subhanker Dey and Ankit Chikara. While Dey lost 11-21, 20-22, Ankit was outplayed 7-21, 14-21.

Other Indians in the fray, H.S. Prannoy, R.M.V. Gurusaidutt, Arvind Bhatt, B. Sai Praneeth and Sourabh Verma also entered the third round.

Sameer Verma and Ajay Jayaram crossed the first round but suffered defeats in the second round on the same day.

Zulfadli Zulkiffli, Viktor Axelsen and Vladimir Ivanov also moved into third round.

The men's singles competition had 64 players, while the women's singles event had 32 competitors.

The Indian women's doubles pairs of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa and Pradnya Gadre and N. Sikki Reddy got byes in the first round.