Macau Open | Saina, Kashyap advance to the next round; Sameer Verma crashes out

Indian ace Saina Nehwal had to dig deep in her second-round clash against world's 44th ranked Hanna Ramadini at the Macau Open as she won back-to-back sets after losing the first set. Despite trailing for the majority of the first set, Saina made a comeback to get level on points at 17-17 and then at 20-20, but Ramadini kept her cool to win the first game 23-21.

Saina came back strongly to dominate the second set leading 9-2 and then making it 19-12 to finally win it 21-14. In the decider, Saina won five consecutive points to make it 10-5 and stormed into a big lead at 14-8. Ramadini won four consecutive points to make the score 19-16 but Saina won two more points to wrap up the match at 21-18.

However, in men's singles, it was a mixed day for Indian badminton. While Sai Praneeth beat China's Sun Feixiang 21-12, 21-15, finalist at the Hong Kong Super Series Sameer Verma crashed out in the second round losing 21-18, 21-13 to Indonesia's Muhammad Bayu Pangisthu. Parupalli Kashyap, who is making a comeback after resting since the Denmark Open, avenged the defeat of HS Prannoy in the first round by beating Taipei's Chen Chun-Wei 21-19, 21-8. Meanwhile, third-seeded Kidambi Srikanth withdrew from his second round clash against Wei Feng Chong of Malaysia due to an injury.

In mixed doubles, Indian pair of Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy triumphed over Hong Kong duo of Alan Yun Lung Chan and Kuen Hon Li to enter the third round of the tournament.