Malaysia Masters: Saina Nehwal Beats Lianne Tan To Advance Into Second Round

Nehwal was in cruise control against her less known Belgian opponent beating her 21-15, 21-17 in straight games in 36 minutes.

Saina Nehwal

  New Delhi: India's ace female shuttler Saina Nehwal on Wednesday sailed into the second round of the ongoing Malaysia Masters after securing a commanding win over her Belgium opponent Lianne Tan in her first-round match at Kuala Lumpur. Nehwal was in cruise control against her less known Belgian opponent beating her 21-15, 21-17  in straight games in 36 minutes. On the other hand, Kidambi Srikanth had to bow out of the competition after losing against Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei. Chen defeated Srikanth 21-17, 21-5 in a match that lasted for just half an hour. Earlier in the day, Sai Praneeth was knocked out of the tournament after coming up short in the first round. The 27-year-old faced a straight-game defeat at the hands of Denmark's Rasmus Gemke 11-21, 15-21. On Tuesday, Indian doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty crashed out of Malaysia Masters after losing to Malaysia's Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi. Later in the day, Parupalli Kashyap, PV Sindhu, Sameer Verma, and HS Pranoy will play their respective matches in the competition.