PV Sindhu advances; Saina Nehwal bows out of China Open

NAGPUR: PV Sindhu and doubles pairs started their campaign on a rousing note in the China Open badminton tournament at Changzhou on Tuesday.
However, it was curtains for former champion Saina Nehwal in the first round itself. The 2014 women's singles winner squandered a game advantage to lose against Sung Ji Hyun 22-20, 8-21, 14-21. The Korean won the battle in 48 minutes.Saina had 8-2 head-to-head record against Sung before the match.
Sindhu didn't have any problem in brushing aside Saena Kawakami of Japan in the first round.
The 2016 champion meant business from the beginning and won 21-15, 21-13 in just 26 minutes. The third-seeded Indian completely dominated the Japanese, ranked 39th in the world.
Sindhu will clash with Busanan Ongbamrungphan of Thailand in the second round on Wednesday.
The tall Hyderabadi has a perfect 8-0 record against the Thai girl.
The highlight of India's Day 1 show was outstanding performance by Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy. The reigning national champions rallied back in spectacular fashion to shock Liao Minchun and Su Ching Heng 13-21, 21-13, 21-12 in the men's doubles first round.
The Indian pair, ranked 28th in the world, rose to the occasion to register a memorable win against the tough Chinese Taipei duo.
After losing the first game, Manu and Sumeeth raised their level of play by few notches to book their place in the last 16.
It was second sensational victory for Manu and Sumeeth in last few days.
Last week at the Japan Open, they had stunned Rio Olympics silver medallists.
Indian specialist doubles coach Kim Her Tan of Malaysia was very happy with today's results. "Manu and Sumeeth have been playing brilliantly recently. I am very impressed with Manu's performance."