Birmingham, March 7 (IANS) Star Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal defeated Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland to advance to the second round of the All England Open badminton championships here.

Saina registered a 21-17, 21-18 straight sets victory against the Scotland player on Wednesday night. The match lasted 35 minutes.

The eighth seed Indian player will now face Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt of Denmark in the next round on Thursday.

--IANS gau/bg