Ajay Jayaram, Arvind Bhat advance to second round at the German Open

Ajay Jayaram

Ajay Jayaram and Arvind Bhat made it through to the second round of the $120,000 German Open Grand Prix Gold on Tuesday. Defending champion Bhat had to battle hard against Bulgaria's Blagovest Kisyov in a 40 minute encounter. The Indian came through 21-6, 13-21, 21-15 at the RWE-Sporthalle stadium.

The first game was even in the initial stages before Bhat won 11 points in a row to lead by a game to love. The second game was much tighter until 12-12, but the Bulgarian played pressure points really well to make it one-game all. Bhat attacked Kisyov’s serve and it paid off as he took the decider dropping 15 points. Bhat will take on local qualifier Patrick Kaemnitz in the second round.

Jayaram on the other hand registered an easy win against Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana in his first round match. Game one saw Jayaram winning 12 points on the trot without giving Ponsana a chance to get back into the game. He took it 21-7. Both players were tied at 15-15 in the second game before the Indian strung 5 points back to back to enter Round 2. He will face No. 3 seed Chou Tien Chen in the second round.