Ajay Jayaram, Saina Nehwal enter pre-quarters

Saina Nehwal made a perfect start to her World Championships campaign, despatching Ireland’s Chloe Magee 21-10 21-7 to enter the pre-quarterfinals in London on Wednesday.

World No 6 Saina proved to be too good for the Irish shuttler, who failed to put up any fight in the 26-minute second round contest.

In the men’s singles, Parupalli Kashyap lost in the second round to Vietnam’s Tien Minh Nguyen in three gruelling sets. Kashyap failed to convert three match points before surrendering to the seventh seed 22-24 21-17 20-22 in one hour and 21 minutes.

V Diju also made a successful return to the court as he along with his partner Jwala Gutta thrashed Jien Guo Ong and Sook Chin Chong of Malaysia 21-11 21-15 in a 29-minute mixed doubles match at the Wembley arena.

The 21-year-old Saina was at her aggressive best as she digged in her repertoire and played varied strokes to completely bamboozle her opponent. Playing after more than a month, Saina, who got a bye in the first round, took little time to get into the groove as she moved ahead with a 3-0 lead in the opening game and though Magee had caught up, the Indian surged ahead without much ado.

After pocketing the first game, Saina turned more aggressive in the second game and zoomed to 13-1 before slamming the door on her rival, conceding just six more points. “It was a good victory to start with. I was playing after a long time and she had beaten the world No 31 Adrianti Firdasari, so it is quite satisfying to start on a positive note here,” Saina said.

Diju, who had last played in the Swiss Open in March, made a resounding return to international badminton after undergoing a back surgery. The 30-year-old shuttler combined well with Jwala and didn’t give much chance to the rivals.

The 16th seeded Indians, who got a bye in the opening round, had their nose ahead in the first game as from 9-7, they simply kept widening the gap by moving in giant strides. The second game was a tooth and nail battle till 12-12 before the Indians grabbed four straight points to move ahead and register a place in the pre-quarterfinals. Ajay Jayaram, who is playing in his first World Championships, beat Vladimir Ivanov of Russia 21-19 21-17. The Mumbai boy, who upset Japan's Kenichi Tago in the first round, will play the winner of the match between sixth seeded Jin Chen of China and Dicky Palyama of the Netherlands.

In women’s doubles, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa shocked second seeds Wen Hsingh Cheng and Yu Chin Chien in their second round tie. The Indian duo beat their opponents from Chinese Taipei 21-18 21-18 in a tie that lasted for half an hour. —With PTI inputs