Praneeth upsets second seed Yun
Rising shuttler Sai Praneeth B. notched up a stunning straight-games victory over world number four Yun Hu of Hong Kong in the men’s singles opening round in the Singapore Super Series here on Wednesday.
The world number 61 Indian brushed aside the second seed 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 R.M.V. 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 crashed out of the tournament.
Ajay Jayaram went down fighting 19-21, 21-18, 17-21 to fourth seed Kenichi Tago of Japan, while top seed Pengyu Du sent Anand Pawar packing 21-16, 21-13.
Another rising shuttler, Sourabh Varma, was defeated 17-21, 17-21 by Wing Ki Wong in the 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 P.C. 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.
Saina reaches second round
Saina Nehwal avenged her quarter-final loss at the Thailand Open by Juan Gu with a comfortable straight-game victory over the Singaporean in the opening round here.
The world no. 2 took 40 minutes to pack off Juan 21-14, 23-21.
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