Both seeded Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth have progressed to the round of 16 of the women's and men's singles respectively in the ongoing Australian Open at Sydney's Olympic Park.
Saina did not have any problem in her first round encounter against Cheah Lyddia Yi Yu of Malaysia as she beat the Malaysian in straight sets with the score reading, 21-12 and 21-10. The Indian did not give the Malaysian girl any chance to comeback in the match with an impressive dominant display on the court.
But the victory should not come as a big surprise, as she has been in great form throughout the year winning big titles.
So when she meets China's Sun Yu on Thursday for the round of 16 clash, the Indian will be confident of scripting yet another victory and progress further in the competition as as she has an impressive record with the Chinese.
In the four meeting between the two, the Indian has only lost once against the Chinese. But the Indian, as she has done throughout her career, does not take her opponents lightly and one can expect the same when the second seed takes on Yu.
Her first real test might come in the quarter-finals of the competition as she is expected to face the fifth seed from China, Wang Shixian. But Saina has it in her to go all the way and defend her title.
In the men's category, it is Srikanth, who been shouldering the Indian flag with great success and especially 2015 has been a major year winning major titles and defeating top players. It is such performances, which has seen him being seeded high in primarily all the competition he participates.
He has been seeded fourth for the Australian Open, which includes top players from around the world, so clinching the title here can be one of the major highlights of his career so far.
The Indian started the tournament in a bright fashion with a victory over Dane Hans-Kristian Vittinghus, but the Indian was stretched to three sets as the score read 14-21, 21-8 and 22-20. Despite losing the first set, Srikanth clawed back into the game convincingly winning the second set.
It was the third set, which was the highlight of the match with both players going for a win, but the Indian eventually turned triumphant to set up a date with Tian Houwei from China in the round of 16.
The Indian has to come up with a better performance against the Chinese, who defeated his first round opponent Ka Long Angus in straight sets 21-9 and 21-19.
Where to Watch Live
K. Srikanth vs Tian Houwei is expected to start at 4:20pm local time (11:50 am, 2:20 am ET, 7:20 am BST) start, while Saina Nehwal vs Sun Yu will approximately start at 6:50pm local time (2:20pm IST, 4:50am ET and 9:50 am BST).
There is no live coverage in India, but the live scores can be followed on the BWF Super Series official website
International viewers can stream it live here.
