Sai Praneeth pulls off an upset win over second seed Yun in Singapore

Budding Indian shuttler, Sai Praneeth stunned world number four Yun Hu of Hong Kong in the opening round of Singapore Super Series on Wednesday by securing a win in straight games.

Praneeth, ranked 61 in the world, dominated the entire match which lasted just 30 minutes. The scorecard read 21-9, 21-10 at the end of a one sided match. Praneeth took perfect revenge for the loss in straight sets to Yun at the Vietnam International Challenge in 2009.

The winner between RMV Gurusaidutt and Wei Feng Chong will meet Sai in the second round. This is not the first time he had caused an upset. He defeated former world and Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat in Indonesia.

Sai is the only Indian to proceed to the second round while all his fellow country mates lost in the first round.

Top seed Pengyu Du crushed Anand Pawar in straight games 21-16,21-13. Whereas Ajay Jayaram went down fighting 19-21,21-18,17-21 against fourth seed Kenichi Tago of Japan.

Another budding shuttler Sourabh Varma was handed defeat by Wing Ki Wong, which lasted just 37 minutes.

In ladies singles, Arundhati Pantawane lost to world number 26 Bulgarian Petya Nedelcheva 18-21, 18-21, while PC Thulasi lost a three setter to world number 14 Indonesian Lindaweni Faetri 23-21, 16-21, 16-21 in an energy-sapping 66-minute match.

In mixed doubles competition, Indian pair of Tarun Kona and Ashwini Ponappa 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.

Source: Times of India