India's Saina Nehwal advanced to the second round, as Sameer Verma and the mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy exited the Malaysia Open badminton championships in the opening round here yesterday.

Saina got past Hong Kong's Yip Pui Yin 21-12, 21-16 in the first round, while Sameer got a thrashing from Indonesian Tommy Sugiarto, who registered an easy 21-13, 21-5 victory. Pranaav and Sikki lost 16-21, 12-21 in 31 minutes to Chinese fourth seeds Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong.