Indonesia Masters: Sen, Saina progress to second round

Indian shuttlers Lakshya Sen and Saina Nehwal made an impressive start at the Indonesia Masters Super 500 tournament, advancing to the second round of men’s and women’s singles events, respectively, with contrasting wins here on Wednesday. Sen, who had a subdued start to the new season with early exits from Malaysia and India in the last two weeks, dished out a superlative performance to outwit Japan’s new sensation, Kodai Naraoka, 21-12 21-11 in his opening match. Saina, who had reached the second round at India Open, eked out a 21-15 17-21 21-15 win over Chinese Taipei’s Pai Yu Po to make it to the pre-quarterfinals. Seventh seed Sen will face Malaysia’s Ng Tze Yong next, while Saina takes on the winner of the match between two Chinese, Zhang Yi Man and eighth seed Han Yue. Former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth continued to flatter to deceive as he blew a 18-15 lead and two game points in the second game to lose 10-21 22-24 in 39 minutes.