Seoul/New Delhi, Jan 9: It was a good day in office for Indian shuttlers as Saina Nehwal, Parupalli Kashyap and P.V. Sindhu advanced to the second round of the $1 million Korea Open Super Series Premier in Seoul, Wednesday.
Saina, seeded third, came out on top in a tough 58-minute clash with Thailand's Sapsiree Taerattanachai 17-21, 21-9, 21-19 to advance to the women's singles pre-quarter-finals of the first and most expensive tournament of the season.
This was Saina's, World No.3, fourth consecutive win over the World No.22 in as many meetings.
The London Olympics bronze medallist will next face World No.41 Mingtian Fu of Singapore for a place in the quarter-finals at the S.K. Handball Stadium. The Hyderabadi has a 3-0 record against Mingtian.
Meanwhile, 17-year-old Sindhu overcame Indonesian opponent Lindaweni Fanetri in straight games. Sindhu, World No.19, took sweet revenge of her loss to Lindaweni in the final of the Syed Modi International India Grand Prix Gold in Lucknow in December.
The Indian won 22-20, 21-16 in 42 minutes to book a place against Thai Porntip Buranaprasertsuk. Sindhu has an unbeaten 2-0 head-to-head record against the world No.13 Porntip.
"I played well today. In the first game, I was down but then I recovered in time and went on to lead. It was a sweet revenge of the loss in the final of Syed Modi tournament," Sindhu told IANS.
In the men's singles, riding on his recent success of winning the Syed Modi title, Kashyap made short work of England's Rajiv Ouseph winning 21-19, 21-16 in 37 minutes.
Kashyap said it took some time for him to adjust to the drift in the hall.
"The match was Ok. I took time to adjust to the drift in the hall but later on I could control the shuttle well," Kashyap told IANS.
The World No.14 next faces seventh seed and World No.10 Yun Hu of Hong Kong. Hu has previously won the only encounter both the shuttlers have played.
