Guangzhou (China): India's Saina Nehwal started her campaign at World Championships with a win as she defeated Russia's Olga Golovanova 21-5, 21-4 here on Wednesday.
Saina, who has never gone past quarterfinal (2009, 2011) in the event, got the better of Olga in just 23 minutes and would now play 15th seed Thai Porntip Buranaprasertsuk in the pre-quarterfinals on Thursday. Saina has a clean record (5-0) against Porntip but the London Olympics bronze medallist will have to be on her toes in order to move into the next round.
Meanwhile, young Hyderabadi P V Sindhu too made her place in the next round as she beat Kaori Imabeppu of Japan 21-19 19-21 21-17 in a tough encounter. The 10th seeded Indian had to sweat it out for an hour and 11 minutes before she could prevail over Imabeppu.
Both Saina and Sindhu had got a bye in the first round.
However, India's Ajay Jayaram suffered a straight-game loss to Pablo Abian in a 31-minute contest in the men`s singles. Similarly, men`s doubles pair of Tarun Kona and Arun Vishnu too crashed out of the tournament after suffering a 15-21, 21-13, 17-21 defeat against 15th seeded Indonesian pair of Alvent Yulianto Chandra and Markis Kido.