New Delhi: Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Anand Pawar advanced to the second round of the Denmark Open Super Series after notching up contrasting victories in the opening round of the main draw at Odense on Wednesday.
Fourth seed Saina beat Porntip Buranaprasertsuk of Thailand 21-16 21-8 in a 31-minute clash in the women's singles, while Anand saw off Pablo Abian 21-11 21-12 in the men's singles.
World number four Saina will next face Tzu Ying Tai of Chinese Taipei, while Anand will lock horns with the winner of the match between compatriot P Kashyap and world number one Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia.
However, Ajay Jayaram found the going tough and crashed out of the tournament after suffering a 11-21 16-21 defeat against Tommy Sugiarto in the opening match at the Odense Sports Park.
Commonwealth Games gold medalist pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa also had a tough day as they lost 16-21 17-21 to Shinta Mulia Sari and Lei Yao of Singapore in a 30-minute match.
Saina took time to get off the blocks as Porntip opened up a 7-2 lead, but the more experienced Indian slowly narrowed down the lead and then caught up with her at 15-15, before reeling off five straight points to clinch the first game.
In the second, the girl from Hyderabad was more ruthless as she zoomed to a 8-1 lead, and didn't allow the Thai shuttler any chance of bouncing back, moving in giant steps to eventually close the issue comfortably.
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