Saina too good for Jie; Jwala-Ashwini advance

Fourth seed Saina beat Jie 21-14, 21-9 in just 29 minutes. Chetan Anand could not cross the first hurdle and retired hurt midway after losing the first game 13-21 against Brice Leverdez of France.

The 21-year-old Saina didn’t give her opponent any chance as she reeled off 22 smashes against just one by Jie and also pocketed seven net winners compared to the two points which the Dutch could gather.

Jie’s challenge lasted till 4-4 as the Indian soon opened up a 8-4 lead and kept extending the lead to walk away with the first game comfortably.

In the second game, Saina was more ruthless as she moved in giant steps and before Jie could gather herself shut the door on her face in a jiffy. Among other Indians, Jwala Gutta teamed up with Ashwini Ponnappa to edge out Korea’s Kyung Eun Jung and Ha Na Kim 21-17, 8-21, 21-14 in the women’s doubles.

Parupalli Kashyap found the going tough against Wan Ho Shon and suffered a 18-21, 21-17, 9-21 loss to the Korean in a 56-minute match. India’s mixed doubles pair of V Diju and Jwala suffered a 16-21, 8-21 defeat to third seeds Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir in the mixed doubles. Men’s doubles pair of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas too could not cross the first round hurdle going down 21-15, 12-21, 13-21 to the Indonesian combo of Angga Pratama and Ryan Agung Saputra.