China Open: Saina moves to round 2, Sourabh, Satwik-Chirag out

Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal sailed into the women's singles second round of the China Open Super Series Premier with a straight-game win over USA's Beiwan Zhang here yesterday. Saina, who recently won the National Championships beating compatriot PV Sindhu in the final, hardly broke a sweat and needed exactly 30 minutes to tame Zhang 21-12, 21-13 in her tournament opener. Akane next for Nehwal In fifth seed Akane Yamaguchi, Saina has drawn a tough opponent in the next round. The Indian trails the Japanese one to three in head-to-head record.

Saina Nehwal

However, it was curtains for shuttler Sourabh Verma, who lost in the first round to France's Brice Leverdez 14-21, 21-15, 11-21. The men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost to Chinese pair of Cheng Liu and Nan Zhang 13-21, 13-21. Lin Dan ousted Meanwhile, Lin Dan was dumped out of the first round after suffering a 21-19, 21-16 defeat to Indonesia's Jonatan Christie. The loss will ramp up speculation that the Lin, 34, may soon call it quits as he approaches the end of his brilliant career.