Saina Nehwal wins first round in All England Championships

Birmingham: Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal began her All England Championships campaign with an easy straight-game win over Beatriz Corrales of Spain in the women’s singles here on Wednesday.

Saina, who has been struggling for form for some time, beat her Spanish opponent 21-17 21-19 in her opening round match that lasted 38 minutes.

The 2012 London Olympics bronze medallist Indian, who had reached the final here in 2015, will face the winner of the first round match between second seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan and Kristin Kuuba of Estonia in the second round.

In men’s singles, B Sai Praneeth lost to top seed and Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen 20-22 11-21 in the first round match that lasted 48 minutes.

H S Prannoy went down fighting to last week’s German Open winner Thai player Kunlavut Vitidsarn 15-21 22-24 in 56 minutes while



Sameer Verma also lost to Mark Caljouw of the Netherlands 18-21 11-21 in a 41-minute opening match.

In men’s doubles, fifth seeded Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty beat Scottish pair of Alexander Dunn and Adam Hall 21-17 21-19 in 38 minutes.

But M R Arjun and Dhruv Kapila lost 21-15 12-21 18-21 to second seed Indonesian pair of Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan.

The other Indian men’s doubles pair of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala also suffered defeat at the hands of the German duo of Mark Lamfuss and Marvin Seidel 16-21 19-21 in just 37 minutes.

In women’s doubles, Treesa Jolly and Pullela Gayatri Gopichand made it to the second round with a 17-21 22-20 21-14 victory over the Thailand pair of Benyapa Aimsaard and Nuntakarn Aimsaard in one hour and seven minutes.