Malaysia Open 2022 | PV Sindhu and P Kashyap sail into second round, Saina Nehwal loses

Malaysia Open 2022 | PV Sindhu and P Kashyap sail into second round, Saina Nehwal loses

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Indian badminton ace PV Sindhu sailed into the second round at the Malaysia Open 2022, while former world no.1 Saina Nehwal lost her first-round match on Wednesday. Sindhu, who is ranked seventh in the world, beat 10th-ranked Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand 21-13, 21-17 in the opening match.

But it wasn't the best of starts for Nehwal, who was competing for the first time since Thailand Open in May. She lost to world no. 30 Iris Wang of the USA 21-11, 21-17. Surprisingly, the 2012 Olympics bronze medalist, hasn't gone past the first round this year.  

Sindhu was in complete control right from the start of the match, as she raced to a four-point lead at the mid-game interval. Then there was no looking back in the match, thereafter. In the second game though, both the players were level at 17-17, from where Sindhu scored four back-to-back points to win the match. 

This means that Sindhu also improved her head-to-head record over Chochuwong to 6-3. Now the Indian will be up against world No. 20 Phittayaporn Chaiwan of Thailand in the second round. Prior to this match, the mixed doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and B Sumeeth Reddy lost to European Games medallists Robin Tabeling and Selena Piek of the Netherlands 21-15, 19-21, 21-17.

Meanwhile, P Kashyap won his first-round match against Hew Kwang of South Korea 21-12, 21-17. 

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