6 Saina Nehwal played in the afternoon. They backed Nehwal, cheering lustily every point she won and continued to do so when Parupalli Kashyap took the court in the evening. The stands had a good sprinkling of school students.

'The turnout today was highly encouraging and it feels good to play in front of the home crowd,' said Saina.

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Media had tough time watching Saina's match

Due to the stringent security arrangements, the movement of the media, too, has been restricted. And the fact Saina Nehwal's match was at the far end from where media was seated only gave scribes a tough time.

Media personnel had to request the organisers to shift them to the stand closer to the court so that they could get a better view of Saina's match.

It was only after organising committee director Pullela Gopichand intervened that the problem was sorted out.