Saina Nehwal enters second round of Swiss Open

Saina Nehwal brushed aside Japan’s Sayaka Sato 21-13, 21-8 to enter the women’s singles second round of the Swiss Open Grand Prix badminton event in Basel.

The World No.4 took 33 minutes to beat No.15 Sato in the opening round here Wednesday. The Indian, seeded third, next plays Dutch qualifier Judith Meulendijks Thursday.

P.V. Sindhu, however, lost to Jie Yao of Netherlands 18-21, 21-18, 19-21 after a gruelling battle.

The mixed doubles pair of V. Diju and Jwala Gutta also bowed out in the first round. The eighth seeds went down 13-21, 15-21 to Japan’s Shoji Sato and Shizuka Matsuo.