World number four Saina Nehwal was given a wake-up call in
the opening round of the French Super Series badminton tournament on Wednesday
when the top seed was stretched for almost an hour by unheralded Li Han of
China in the women’s singles first round encounter.
Saina, who is chasing back-to-back Super Series titles after
winning the Denmark Open last week, managed to overpower the Chinese, who is
currently ranked 19 places below the Indian, 21-11, 16-21, 21-19 in 59 minutes
and will now face Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand in the second round.
Saina looked like bulldozing through the first round
encounter when she controlled the pace of the match in the first game but the
Chinese came back strongly in the second and her superiority in the net
exchanges added to the pressure on the London Olympics bronze medallist.
In the other matches, Ajay Jayaram defeated Suppanyu
Avihingsanon of Thailand 21-16, 21-17 in the men’s singles first round. He will
now face third seed Peter Gade of Denmark for a place in the quarterfinals.
However, the challenge of Sourabh Verma came to an end in
the opening round when he went down against Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia
22-20, 21-16 for the second successive time. The duo had met in the second
round of the Denmark Open last week and the Indonesian had come up triumph in
two straight games.
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