Jakarta: India’s Saina Nehwal suffered a minor scare against local hope Lindaweni Fanetri but latter saved six match points in the second game to force a third and eventually won 21-17 27-29 21-13 in the Indonesian Super Series Premier on Tuesday.
World number two Saina had to play out of her skin against the 14th ranked Fanetri, who posed a huge threat to the Indian before surrendering 17-21 29-27 13-21 in an hour and 14 minutes in a women's singles first round match at the Istora Gelora Bung Karno Stadium.
The 23-year-old from Hyderabad will take on the winner of the match between Sayaka Takahashi of Japan and Thailand's Porntip Buranaprasertsuk in the pre-quarterfinals on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, The first round of the Djarum Indonesia Open began with an unpleasant shock for China as both Wang Yihan and Wang Shixian lost in Women’s Singles on Tuesday.
Third seed Wang Yihan, who won this title in 2011, and seventh seed Wang Shixian, winner of the Swiss Open, stumbled to first-round defeats against Yip Pui Yin (Hong Kong) and Busanan Ongbumrungpan (Thailand) respectively. This was Wang Yihan’s third first-round demise of 2013, after suffering a similar fate at the All England and Korea Open.
ISN