Bengaluru, March 17: PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal began their All England Badminton Championships 2022 campaign with easy straight-game wins over their respective opponents in the women's singles matches in Birmingham on Wednesday (March 16).

Sixth seed Sindhu beat Zhi Yi Wang of China 21-18, 21-13 in her first-round match that lasted 42 minutes while Saina defeated Beatriz Corrales of Spain 21-17, 21-19 in the 38-minute encounter.

Badminton World Federation (BWF) No.7 ranked Sindhu will meet the winner of the first round match between Sayaka Takahashi of Japan and Supanida Katethong of Thailand in the second round.

All England Open 2022: Schedule, Indians in Action, Previous Indian winners and Live Streaming Information

Saina, who had reached the final in the same competition in 2015, will face the winner of the first round match between second seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan and Kristin Kuuba of Estonia in the second round.

If Sindhu and Saina win their respective second round matches, they will face each other in the quarterfinals.

Sai, Prannoy, Sameer, bow out

Meanwhile, in the men's singles, B Sai Praneeth lost to top seed and Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen 20-22, 11-21 in the first round match that lasted 48 minutes.

HS Prannoy also lost, going down fighting to last week's German Open winner Thai player Kunlavut Vitidsarn 15-21, 22-24 in 56 minutes while Sameer Verma also lost to Mark Caljouw of the Netherlands 18-21, 11-21 in a 41-minute opening match.

In men's doubles, fifth seeded Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty beat Scottish pair of Alexander Dunn and Adam Hall 21-17, 21-19 in 38 minutes.

The All England Badminton Championships 2022 is featuring a total of 128 singles competitors and 96 teams including world champions and Olympic champions.

So far only two Indians -- Prakash Padukone (1980) and Pullela Gopichand (2001) -- have won the BWF-sanctioned All England Championships since the inception of the tournament in 1899.

Badminton fans in India can live stream the event and all the action on VOOT Select till Sunday (March 20).

(With inputs from Agencies)