CHANGZHOU
: Olympic and world championship silver-medallist
PV Sindhu on Tuesday progressed to the pre-quarterfinals but Saina Nehwal bowed out after a narrow loss at the USD one million
China Open
World Tour Super 1000 tournament.
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The third-seeded Sindhu, who had clinched the China Open title in 2016, defeated World No. 39 Saena Kawakami of Japan 21-15, 21-13 in the opening round at the Olympic Sports Center Xincheng Gymnasium.
However, two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist Saina, who was the first Indian to win the China title in 2014, lost 22-20, 8-21, 14-21 to Korea's Sung Ji Hyun in a 48-minute opener.
Men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy, the national champions, defeated Chinese Taipei's Liao Min Chun and Su Ching Heng 13-21, 21-13, 21-12 in 39 minutes to enter the second round.
The women's singles match between Sindhu and Saena started out as a close contest before the Indian broke off to grab a 13-7 lead at one stage.
She kept dominating the rallies and pocketed the opening game without much trouble.
In the second game, Sindhu zoomed to a 6-0 lead but Saena managed to make it 8-10 before the Indian entered the interval with a slender 11-9 lead.
After the break, Sindhu jumped to 15-11 before grabbing eight match points at 20-12 and sealed it comfortably.