India’s Olympic bronze medallist shuttler Saina Nehwal progressed to the women’s singles second round of the USD 170,000 Barcelona Spain Masters with a 21-16, 21-14 win over Germany’s Yvonne Li on Wednesday.
The Hyderabadi Saina took just 35 minutes to beat her opponent in the first round match.
Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Sikki N Reddy also won their mixed doubles first round match against Denmark’s Mathias Christiansen and Alexandra Boje 10-21, 21-16, 21-17.
However, HS Prannoy lost to Malaysian Daren Liew 18-21, 15-21 to bow out of the tournament.
Saina is looking to keep her Tokyo Olympic hopes alive after an inconsistent outing in 2019 and she also didn’t enjoy a good start this year. She has crossed the first round in only one of the three events in 2020.
