Malaysia Open badminton: PV Sindhu sails into second round, Saina Nehwal crashes out

Former world champion PV Sindhu progressed to the second round while Saina Nehwal faced an early exit at the Malaysia Open 2022 women’s singles event in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday. 

PV Sindhu, seventh in the badminton world rankings, beat world No. 10 Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand 21-13, 21-17 in the first round at the Axiata Arena. 

World No. 26 Saina Nehwal, who was competing for the first time since the Thailand Open in May, was beaten by 30th-ranked Iris Wang of the USA 21-11, 21-17. The London 2012 bronze medallist is yet to go past the second round this year.

PV Sindhu took control of the match from the start with a four-point lead at the first break. With scores at 16-13, PV Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist, won five successive points to take the 1-0 lead.

Pornpawee Chochuwong fought hard to stay in the match in the second game. PV Sindhu, however, once again broke free late with six consecutive points after trailing 15-17.

With this win, PV Sindhu improved her head-to-head record over Pornpawee Chochuwong to 6-3. PV Sindhu will face world No. 20 Phittayaporn Chaiwan of Thailand in the second round. 

Commonwealth Games gold medallist Parupalli Kashyap, meanwhile, got better of South Korea’s Heo Kwang Hee 21-12, 21-17 in the first round of men's singles. 

In the women’s doubles, Ashwini Bhat and Shikha Gautam went down to two-time world champions Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara of Japan 21-11, 21-14.

India’s 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 to make a first-round exit.