Dubai: World champion Chen Long got his campaign off to winning start while both Indian players prospered on the opening day of the BWF Destination Dubai World Superseries Finals at the Hamdan Sports Complex on Wednesday.

Egged on by a vocal crowd, Saina Nehwal fashioned out a 21-17, 21-18 win over world number two Wang Shixian while K Srikanth endured an agonizing one hour on court to fight back for a 15-21, 21-16, 21-10 win against Japan’s Kento Momota.

Earlier, it was World Champion Chen Long getting off to a rusty 21-11, 21-14 win over Kenichi Tago of Japan in his opening Group A match to start his campaign on a winning note.

Giving the Indian crowd reason to cheer first was Nehwal as she bid her time and stayed patient on crucial points to win against her Chinese opponent in 58 minutes. This was the eleventh meeting between the two players and the record is slightly tilted 6-5 in favour of Nehwal after Wednesday’s win.

“It was like a final out there. The crowd, the chanting and some really intense moments on court. I had to do something special and win for the sake of the Indian crowd supporting me,” Nehwal told Gulf News.

“It is always close between us, but it feels good to start off on a winning note. I need to just stay focused on my game as there are going to be no easy matches for anyone. The Indian cheering was from the heart and I had to do something special as it felt I was playing in India,” Nehwal said.

Later, Srikanth gave the crowd even more reason to rejoice as he fought back from losing the first game to win the next two and second a hard-fought result against an aggressive Japanese opponent. “I went in with a strategy but found that it was not working, so I had to make the changes in the second,” Srikanth said.

By the time he did affect the changes by being more aggressive and alert at the net, the Indian was trailing 0-5 in the second. However, he drew level at 5-5 and went on to take the game 21-16, and then quickly wrapped up the third 21-10. “It’s Tommy [Sugiarto] next and I will have to now sit with my coach and work out a strategy for tomorrow,” Srikanth said.

Earlier, World Champion had very little issues getting his campaign off to a rusty-looking win against Kenichi Tago. Winner of the World Championships in Copenhagen in August, Chen took his time to adjust and adapt before mastering his Japanese opponent in 47 minutes.

“It took me some time to adjust to the court surface and that explains my slow start,” Chen told media.

“But once I got going I was able to dictate and dominate the pace,” he added.

In the morning session, it was a superb start for the two Danish players as they won their fixtures in the men’s singles convincingly. Second seed Jan O Jorgensen showed why he is one of the favourites for the Superseries with a convincing 21-15, 21-19 win over last year’s runner-up Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia, while fellow Dane Hans-Kristian Vittinghus sprung the biggest surprise with a 21-13, 21-16 win over South Korea’s Son Wan Ho.

Results

Men’s Singles: Jan O Jorgensen (Denmark) bt Tommy Sugiarto (Indonesia) 21-15, 21-9. Hans-Kristian Vittinghus (Denmark) bt Son Wan Ho (South Korea) 21-13, 21-16. Chen Long (China) bt Kenichi Tago (Japan) 21-11, 21-14. K. Srikanth bt Kento Momota 15-21, 21-16, 21-10.

Women’s Singles: Sung Ji Hyun (South Korea) bt Bae Yeon Ju (South Korea) 21-15, 21-11. Tai Tzu Ying (Chinese Taipei) bt Ratchanok Intanon (Thailand) 21-13, 18-21, 21-10. Saina Nehwal bt Wang Shixian (China) 21-17, 21-18.

Women’s Doubles: Tian Qing/Zhao Yunlei (China) bt Luo Ying/Luo Yu (China) 21-17, 18-21, 21-11. Reika Kakiiwa/Miyuki Maeda (Japan) bt Nitya Krishinda Maheshwari/Greysia Polii (Indonesia) 18-21, 22-20, 6-8 (retd.). Jung Kyung Eun/Kim Ha Na (South Korea) bt Chang Ye Na/Kim So Yeong (South Korea) 21-12, 9-21, 21-15.

Men’s Doubles: Lee Yong Dae/Yoo Yeon Seong (South Korea) bt Ko Sung Hyun/Shin Baek Choel (South Korea) 21-14, 21-11. Chai Biao/Hong Wei (China) bt Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan (Indonesia) 11-7 (retd.). Hiroyuki Endo/Kenichi Hayakawa (Japan) bt Liu Xiaplong/Qiu Zihan (China) 21-7, 21-12.

Mixed Doubles: Joachim Fischer Nielsen/Christinna Pedersen (Denmark) bt Sudket Prapakamol/Saralee Thoungthonkam (Thailand) 21-5, 24-22. Liu Cheng/Bao Yixin (China) bt Tontowi Ahmad/Lilyana Natsir (Indonesia) 21-10, 12-21, 21-15.