Nanjing: Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon survived a major scare at the BWF World Championships as the fourth seed battled back from the brink of a shock early exit yesterday.
The 2013 world champion and one of the favourites in Nanjing looked set to go out to unseeded Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark, before recovering her poise to gleefully reach the third round.
A lacklustre Ratchanok went down 21-16 in the first game and was trailing for much of the second, losing 19-16 at one stage.
The 23-year-old appeared troubled by a right ankle or foot injury and called for her trainer as she stared defeat in the face.
But the former world No.1, who suffered a shock first round exit at the All England Open earlier this year, stormed back to squeeze through the second game 22-20 and then raced away in the decider 21-10 after a nervy 76 minutes of action.
Ratchanok will next meet 10th seed Saina Nehwal of India who beat Aliye Demirbag of Turkey 21-17, 21-8 in just 38 minutes.
Affectionately called May by the Thai press and fans, Ratchanok is still her country's only world badminton champion.
Also in the women's singles second round, Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan lost 21-9, 21-8 to Olympic champion Carolina Marin.
World No.1 Tai Tzu-ying of Taiwan eased through in her opener to underline her status as the woman to beat.
The top seed was never really in trouble against Hsuan-Yu Wendy Chen of Australia, winning 21-10,21-16 to advance to the third round.
In the mixed doubles second round, Thai duo Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai beat Malaysia's Tan Kian Meng and Lai Pei Jing 21-12, 21-15.
In the men's singles, Japan's Kento Momota made a blistering start to his campaign then brushed off any talk of pressure.
The explosive 23-year-old is the man in form coming into the Nanjing showpiece and is tipped by many to win the tournament.
After swatting aside Ukraine's Artem Pochtarov 21-13, 21-12, Momota said: "I don't take the attention at home and abroad as pressure, but instead motivation."
"The first match was an easy win. I feel very good now and hope I can win all the matches. I want to win," Xinhua news agency quoted the sixth-seeded Japanese as saying.
Momota plays Luka Wraber, the 136th-ranked Austrian, today. bangkok post/afp
