India's Parupalli Kashyap stunned world number seven Chinese Zhengming Wang, while Saina Nehwal made mince meat of Austria's Simone Prutsch but it was heartbreak for P V Sindhu in the opening round of the USD 250,000 India Super Series here today.
Kashyap produced one of his finest performance despite playing with a strapping on his shoulders to overcome Zhengming 21-12 17-21 21-12 in the opening round of the men's singles but Sindhu failed to keep her 3-0 record against Shixian Wang of China intact as the two-time All England champion extracted revenge for her Swiss Open loss with a 15-21 21-12 10-21 win over the Indian in a 69-minute women's singles match.
However, London Olympics bronze medallist Saina brought some smiles back to the Indian camp after she thrashed Simone 21-7 21-9 in another women's singles first round match later in the day. She will next take on Natcha Saengchote of Thailand.
Among other Indians in fray, Malaysia Grand Prix Gold finalist Sourabh Varma too reached the second round after beating Russia's Vladimir Ivanov 21-16 17-21 21-14. His colleague RMV Gurusaidutt also made his way to the next round with a 17-21 21-16 21-17 win over Chinese Taipei's Tien Chen Chou but he will be facing compatriot Kashyap in the second round tomorrow.
Sourabh, who won three titles in the last four months, will take on world number one Malaysian Lee Chong Wei tomorrow. Lee had defeated Indian qualifier Ajay Kumar 21-9 21-9. The Hyderabadi lad stunned German Open winner Arvind Bhat yesterday in the qualifiers.
