But tomorrow I face a tougher opponent and will have a better idea of my fitness level,' said Saina, who got a bye in the first round.

On the pressure to play at home, Saina said she is not bogged down by expectations.

'I am not feeling any pressure, the crowd was good and it will only help the sport in the country,' she said.

Saina kept herself ahead in the first game and never looked in trouble. She opened up a 6-3 lead and then grabbed four points at 12-8 to race to 16-8. She was in command from 16-10 and took five points in a reel.

The second game was a bit close as Saina's errors allowed Anastasia to nose ahead 7-6. But Saina managed to break free from 13-14 with some deceptive drop shots.

'Because of the drift from one end, the shuttle was coming faster. And on the other side it's slow. But it's better than it was in the Indian Open when there was more drift.

In the men's doubles, Akshay Dewalkar and Jishnu Sanyal lost to 16th seed Vitalij Durkin and Alexandr Nikolaenko of Russia 21-17, 13-21, 18-21 in the second round.