Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal started her campaign in the the $1,000,000 Badminton World Federation (BWF) Superseries Finals with a 21-17, 21-18 win over Wang Shixian of China in a Group A match, here on Wednesday.
In a match that lasted 58 minutes Saina, who has been seeded fifth, proved her superiority over the World No. 2 Chinese. With this win Saina now has a 3-2 lead in head-to-head meetings.
However, the Hyderabadi will face a stiff challenge as she has the South Koreans Ji Hyun Sung and Yeon Ju Bae too in the Group. Two players from each group will qualify for the semifinals.
The five-day tournament features top eight performers in each of the five categories from the 12 Superseries events.
In the men’s event K. Srikanth will look to finishing the year on a successful note.
Srikanth, who stunned five-time World and two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan in the final of the China Open, finds himself in Group Group B along with World No.3 Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark, World No.5 Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia and World No.15 Kento Momoto of Japan.
