Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu made confident starts while Kidambi Srikanth overcame a tough challenge to advance at the India Open on Wednesday. Saina beat Chinese Taipei's Chia Hsin Lee 21-10, 21-17, Sindhu got the better of compatriot Arundhati Pantawane 21-17, 21-6 and Srikanth saw off world No. 49 Zhao Junpeng 21-19, 21-16.
Saina, who won the last of her two India Open titles in 2015, was completely dominant in the first game of her match, not letting Chia Hsin settle into a rhythm. Though the second game was tighter, Saina did enough to maintain her edge. At one stage, the Indian player won seven consecutive points in the second game.
Saina had been the favourite going into the match with Chia Hsin ranked 31 places below her at World No. 39.
Pantawane, a former national champion, put up a good fight against Sindhu in the first game but lost 17-21. She could not maintain her good form in the second as Sindhu settled into a good rhythm and ran away with the game 21-6.
World No. 31 Srikanth had to dig deep against his Chinese opponent to bring the first game on level terms after falling behind 1-8. In the second game, the Indian took a quick, initial lead and managed to hold on to it despite a persistent effort from Junpeng to get back into the game.
Earlier in the day, Rituparna Das beat Chinese Taipei's Chiang Mei Hui in three games to become the first Indian to enter the second round of women's singles
In men's doubles, India's Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy lost to Japan's Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi 19-21, 19-21 in the first round. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, winners of last week's Vietnam Open, lost 14-21, 17-21 to Denmark's Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen.
Although India's challenge in the men's doubles ended, the hosts are still alive in the women's doubles and mixed doubles. Shruti Mundada and Anoushka Parikh defeated compatriots Gauri Asaji and Megha Morchana Bora 22-20, 21-8 to book a place in the second round, while Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy defeated England's Jessica Pugh and Gabrielle Adcock, who advanced in the mixed category with her doubles partner and husband Chris Adcock.
Sikki Reddy also entered the mixed doubles second round, after she and Pranaav Jerry Chopra defeated Indonesia's Hafiz Faizal and Shela Devi Aulia 21-15, 21-19.