SINGAPORE: Rising Indian shuttler Sai Praneeth B notched up a stunning straight-game victory over world number four Yun Hu of Hong Kong in the men's singles opening round in the Singapore Super Series on Wednesday.
The world number 61 Indian brushed aside the second seeded shuttler 21-9, 21-10 in a match that lasted 30 minutes at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
The 20-year-old from Hyderabad, who had spoilt former world and Olympics champion Taufik Hidayat's farewell in Indonesia, will next take on the winner between RMV Gurusaidutt and Wei Feng Chong in the second round.
Praneeth had lost to Yun in straight games at the Vietnam International Challenge in 2009.
However, all other Indians suffered defeats in the opening round to crash out of the tournament.
Ajay Jayaram went down fighting 19-21, 21-18, 17-21 against fourth seed Kenichi Tago of Japan, while top seed Pengyu Du sent Anand Pawar packing 21-16, 21-13 in another men's singles match.
Another rising shuttler Sourabh Varma was defeated 17-21, 17-21 by Wing Ki Wong in another men's singles opening round match which lasted for 37 minutes.
In women's singles, Arundhati Pantawane lost to world number 26 Bulgarian Petya Nedelcheva 18-21, 18-21, while PC Thulasi put up a gallant fight against world number 14 Indonesian Lindaweni Faetri before going down 23-21, 16-21, 16-21 in an energy-sapping 66-minute match.
In mixed doubles competition, Indian pair of Tarun Kona and Ashwini Ponnappa lost to third seeds Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir 6-21, 10-21, while Arun Vishnu and Aparna Balan suffered a 17-21, 21-19, 12-21 loss to Thai combo of Songphon Anugritayawon and Kunchala Voravichitchaikul. |
