PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal both opened their Hong Kong Superseries campaign with straight-game wins on Wednesday.
Sindhu reached the second round after a 21-18, 21-10 win over local qualifier Leung Yuet Yee.
Nehwal was made to fight a bit harder by Mette Poulsen of Denmark, eventually beating her 21-19, 23-21 after saving a game point in the second. Nehwal has a difficult match coming up next, against Chinese eighth seed Chen Yufei.
In the men’s singles draw, the Indians did not have a good day as P Kashyap gave up a one-game lead to lose to fellow qualifier Le Dong Keun 21-15, 9-21 20-22. Sourabh Verma, on the other hand, was no match for Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto, losing 15-21, 8-21.
HS Prannoy came through a tough first-round match, eventually getting past Hong Kong’s Hu Yun 19-21, 21-17, 21-15.
India’s women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy lost their first-round encounter against China’s Huang Dongping and Li Wenmei 11-21, 21-19, 19-21.
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