New Delhi: Teenage Indian badminton sensation Saina Nehwal cruised into the singles second round at the ongoing World Badminton Championships in Kuala Lumpur on Monday.
Saina's men's counterpart Anup Sridhar, too, entered the singles second round, but Shruti Kurian and Jwala Ghutta crashed out from women's doubles in the first round.
Saina, who has consistently improved in the world rankings, beat Jeanine Cicoginini of Switzerland 21-12, 21-12.
Sridhar got the better of Juergen Koch of Austria 21-15, 21-19 in 36 minutes.
Sridhar, however, has a tough challenge ahead as he faces Olympic Champion Taufiq Hidayat of Indonesia next.
Saina will play either Juliane Schenk of Germany or Kristina Ludikova of Czech Republic.
Country's top women's pair Jwala and Shruti went down fighting 22-20, 15-21, 18-21 against the Swedish pair of Elin Bergblom and Johanna Persson.
Men's national champion Chetan Anand is scheduled to launch his campaign with a first round encounter against ninth seed Sony Di Kuncoro of Indonesia on Tuesday.
Trupti Murgunde will play Pui Yin Yip of Hong Kong in the women's singles.
In the men's doubles, Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas face Svetoslav Stoyanov and Mihail Popov of France.
(With inputs from PTI)
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