Saina, Jwala-Ashwini reach second round of All England

New Delhi: Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal survived a scare from lower-ranked Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand before reaching the second round of the All England Championship in Birmingham on Wednesday.

Fourth seeded Saina beat Sapsiree 21-11 13-21 21-13 in a 58-minute women`s singles match. Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa also made a positive start to their campaign, beating Indonesian pair of Anneke Feinya Agustin and Nitya Krishinda Maheswari 21-16 21-16 in the women`s doubles. The Commonwealth Games gold medallist will next take on second seeded Chinese combo of Qing Tian and Yunlei Zhao in the second round tomorrow. In the women`s singles, Saina took little time to get off the mark as she surged ahead to a 6-1 lead and maintained the distance with her Thai rival to pocket the first game without any problem. In the second game, Sapsiree opened up a narrow 2-0 lead and then slowly made her way to lead 7-4. Saina caught up with the Thai at 8-8 but the world number 33 broke off at 10-all and soon bounced back into contention winning the game. In the decider, Saina gathered herself once again and, from 5-5, kept her nose ahead to eventually seal the issue comfortably. PTI