Singapore, June 19 (IANS) After sending Taufik Hidayat into retirement, India’s B. Sai Praneeth caused another big upset by defeating second seed Yun Hu of Hong Kong in the men’s singles first round of the Singapore Open Super Series here Wednesday.
The 20-year-old Sai, ranked 61 in the world, thrashed World No.4 Hu 21-9, 21-10 in exactly half an hour at the Singapore Indoor Stadium to level his head-to-head to 1-all.
Women’s singles second seed Saina Nehwal also advanced to the second round by beating localite Juan Gu 21-14, 23-21 in 40 minutes. This was the fifth time the Hyderabadi beat Juan out of six meetings. The World No.2 will next face Japanese Eriko Hirose in the second round.
In the mixed doubles, Arun Vishnu and Aparna Balan beat Thai pair Songphon Anugritayawon and Kunchala Voravichitchaikul 21-17, 19-21, 21-12 in 45 minutes. Thugh Aparna won in mixed, it was disappointment for her in women’s doubles losing, with partner N. Siki Reddy, to Malaysia’s Meng Yean Lee and Yin Loo Lim 21-18, 18-21, 6-21 in 49 minutes.
Ace shuttler Ashwini Ponnappa with Pradnya Gadre was also beaten in women’s doubles by Indonesia’s Nitya Krishinda Maheswari and Greysia Polii 18-21, 23-21, 16-21 in 53 minutes.
Ashwini also her lost mixed doubles match partnership Tarun Kona. Indonesian third seeds Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir beat Tarun and Ashwini 21-6, 21-10 in 18 minutes.
In other disappointments, in women’s singles, Indonesian Lindaweni Fanetri beat P.C. Thulasi 21-23, 21-16, 21-16 while Bulgarian Petya Nedelcheva overcame Nagpur girl Arundhati Pantawane 21-18, 21-18 in 37 minutes.
In men’s singles: Hong Kong’s Wing Ki Wong beat Sourabh Varma 21-17, 21-17, Japanese fourth seed Kenichi Tago championed over Ajay Jayaram 21-19, 18-21, 21-17, China’s top seed Pengyu Du beat Anand Pawar 21-16, 21-13 in 39 minutes; Vietnamese sixth seed Tien Minh Nguyen beat K. Srikanth 19-21, 21-16, 21-12 in 56 minutes.
Malaysian Wei Feng Chong beat R.M.V. Gurusaidutt 15-21, 21-18, 21-9.
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