Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu had to toil before emerging victorious in the opening round of the Malaysia Masters while compatriot Saina Nehwal made a second consecutive first-round exit here on Wednesday.

The seventh-seeded Sindhu took close to an hour to knock out China’s He Bing Jiao 21-13, 17-21, 21-15 and move to the second round. With this win, World No.7 Sindhu exacted revenge for her first-round exit from the Indonesia Open Super 1000 last month, when Bing Jiao had defeated her in straight games.