Saina starts with easy win,Chetan goes out

Saina Nehwal made a confident start to her All England campaign,winning her opening-round match 21-18 21-11 against Dutch woman Judith Meulendijks in Birmingham on Wednesday.

Saina Nehwal made a confident start to her All England campaign,winning her opening-round match 21-18 21-11 against Dutch woman Judith Meulendijks in Birmingham on Wednesday. The world No 27 from Holland threatened initially with a 9-4 lead in the first game,but Nehwal was in ominous touch after the change-over and picked five straight points to go up 15-11,and then comfortably managed to hold her senior rival off at a safe distance.

The Indian world No 7 is coming off a good Uber Cup qualifiers campaign and looked unstoppable in the second game where she drew into her attacking repertoire and unleashed 15 smash winners in total to wrap up the match in 30 minutes. Never handing her opponent the lead in the second game,the Hyderabad player a week shy of turning 20 strung together quick points from fast rallies. She earned a big cushion through one seven-point streak,with the second game alone witnessing nine smashes.

She next plays Korean world No 16 Seung Hee Bae,who won a marathon against her opponent on Wednesday.

Indias leading mens player Chetan Anand saw world No 1 Lee Chong Wei clinically break away at 6-6 in both games to see his campaign melt away 21-15 21-16 in 26 minutes of his first round. Though the Indian world No 15 outwitted the Malaysian at the net,he had few answers to Lees smashes as the latter picked points in a clutch and raced away to claim the match in quick time.

Anand,who had suffered from indifferent form throughout the Thomas Cup qualifiers and came into his own only towards the end of the Thailand meet,had his best chance to turn the tables when he led 4-0 in the second game. However,the fast-paced Lee,keen on stealing the title from the grasp of Chinese Olympic winner Lin Dan,showed no mercy thereafter and claimed nine points in a row.

The womens doubles pairing of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa was also shown the exit door after a 21-16 21-19 beating from Indonesians Shendy Puspa Irawati and Nitya Krishinda Maheswari 21-16 21-19.

The mens doubles pair of Sanave Thomas and Rupesh Kumar emerged at the winning end in their first round against Danish Mads Conrads-Petersen and Mads Pieler Kolding,ranked nine places below them,winning the 21-15 21-19. The Indians overcame a mid-second game crisis with 10 straight points.