Ace India shuttlers PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal began their All England Championships campaign with easy straight-game wins over their respective opponents in the women’s singles here on Wednesday.
Sindhu, seeded sixth, beat China’s Zhi Yi Wang 21-18, 21-13 in her first round match that lasted 42 minutes. Saina, who has been struggling with her form for some time, defeated Beatriz Corrales of Spain 21-17, 21-19 in 38 minutes.
The world No. 7 Sindhu will meet the winner of the match between Sayaka Takahashi of Japan and Supanida Katethong of Thailand in the second round.
Saina, the 2012 London Olympics bronze medallist who had reached the final here in 2015, will face the winner of the match between second seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan and Kristin Kuuba of Estonia in the second round.
If Sindhu and Saina both win their second round matches, they will face each other in the quarter finals. In the men’s singles, B. Sai Praneeth lost to top seed and Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen 20-22, 11-21 in the first round match that lasted 48 minutes.
HS Prannoy went down fighting to last week’s German Open winner Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand 15-21, 22-24 in 56 minutes while Sameer Verma also lost to Mark Caljouw of the Netherlands 18-21, 11-21 in a 41-minute opening match.
In the men’s doubles, fifth-seeded Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty beat the Scottish pair of Alexander Dunn and Adam Hall 21-17, 21-19 in 38 minutes.
But MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila lost 21-15, 12-21, 18-21 to the second-seeded Indonesian pair of Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan.
In the women’s doubles, Treesa Jolly and Pullela Gayatri Gopichand made it to the second round with a 17-21, 22-20, 21-14 victory over the Thai pair of Benyapa Aimsaard and Nuntakarn Aimsaard.
