Saina, Sindhu advance in Australia

Sydney : Newly-crowned Indonesia Open champion K Srikanth and defending champion Saina Nehwal progressed to the second round with contrasting wins at the Australian Open Super Series here today. PV Sindhu and B Sai Praneeth also entered the second round but it was curtains for four other singles players, including giant-slayer HS Prannoy.
Srikanth continued his good form by defeating Chinese Taipei’s Kan Chao Yu 21-13 21-16, while Sai Praneeth had to sweat it out to register a hard-fought 10-21 21-12 21-10 win over Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto.
Saina was up against a tough opponent in fourth seed Sung Ji Hyun of Korea but the former world No. 1 showed her class to win 21-10 21-16. Sindhu saw off Indonesia Open champion Sayaka Sato of Japan 21-17 14-21 21-18. The fifth seed will face China’s Chen Xiaoxin, who ended Ruthvika Shivani Gadde’s campaign 21-17 12-21 21-12.
The women’s pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy defeated Australia’s Hsuan-Yu Wendy Chen and Jennifer Tam 21-11 21-13 to reach the second round.
However, it was curtains for Prannoy, Ajay Jayaram, P Kashyap and Siril Verma in the men’s singles first round.
Up against seventh seed Ng Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong, Jayaram fought hard before losing 14-21 21-10 21-9.