Indian shuttlers made a resounding start to their campaign at the US Open with as many as six men's singles shuttlers, including Canada Open winner B Sai Praneeth, made it to the second round of the USD 120,000 Grand Prix Gold tournament here.
Praneeth, who clinched his maiden Grand Prix title at Calgary last week, defeated Sweden's Henri Hurskainen 21-13 21-12 to set up a second round match against Canada's B R Sankeerth.
Fifth seed H S Prannoy spanked USA's Calvin Lin 21-7 21-6 in a completely lop-sided contest and will now play Ireland's Joshua Magee.
RMV Gurusaidutt too brushed aside local shuttler Phillips Jap 21-8 21-13 in another one-sided match and would be facing Japan's Kazumasa Sakai in the second round.
Young shuttler Pratul Joshi too outclassed Canada's Kevin Barkman 21-13 21-13 in a 23-minute contest to set up a fight with Czech Milan Ludik.
Experienced shuttler Anand Pawar mauled Denmark's Peder Sovndal 21-7 21-7 in 17 minutes and will meet Austria's David Obernosterer.
Fourth seed Ajay Jayaram got a walkover from Denmark's Joachim Persson, while Rio-bound K Srikanth skipped the event because of Olympic preparation.
The only Indian to exit from the event was Harsheel Dani, who lost 18-21 18-21 to Misha Zilberman of Israel.
Among other Indians, Ruthvika Shivani Gadde will face Japan's Ayumi Mine in the women singles tomorrow, while Tanvi Lad will be up against Guatemala's Nikte Alejandra Sotomayor in the opening round.
Ruthvika Shivani Gadde will face Indonesia's Hana
Ramadhini in the opening round.
Indian men's doubles pair of K Nandagopal and Sanyam Shukla also advanced to the main draw after notching up consecutive wins in the qualifiers today.
Nandagopal and Shukla defeated Indonesian pair of Kaizar Bobby Alexander and Ferdian Fascal 21-11 21-10 and then prevailed 21-12 21-19 over Indonesia's Raynaldi Dita Kusuma and Thailand's Bowornwatanuwong Phutthaporn.
The Indian duo will take on seventh seeded Indonesian Hendra Aprida Gunawan and Markis Kido in the main draw.
In the other qualifying rounds, men's singles players Ansal Yadav and Talar Laa survived the opening round but faced reversals in the second round to bow out of the tournament.
While Ansal beat Muhammad Nizar 21-10 23-21 before losing 21-14 19-21 12-21 to Alamsyah Yunus, Talar notched up a thrilling 21-16 19-21 21-17 win over Rizky Doka Putra and then lost 23-21 10-21 19-21 to Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo.
Women's singles player Reshma Karthik defeated local shuttler Erlina Kurnianti 21-12 21-12 in the opening round but lost in the second round against Desandha Vegarani Putri 20-22 13-21 at Gedung Dome.
