Ajay Jayaram, Gurusaidutt and Sai Praneeth Advance in US Open Grand Prix Gold

Indian shuttlers Ajay Jayaram, R.M.V. Gurusaidutt and B. Sai Praneeth notched up contrasting wins to enter the men's singles third round at the $120,000 US Open Grand Prix Gold being played at the Suffolk County Community College here.

While 14th seed Jayaram beat Czech Republic's Jan Frohlich 21-9, 21-7 in 21 minutes, 16th seed Sai overcame Danish Christian Lind Thomsen 13-21, 21-9, 21-10 in 48 minutes on Wednesday. Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Gurusaidutt defeated compatriot Anand Pawar 18-21, 21-11, 22-20 in 56 minutes also to advance to the pre-quarter-finals. (HS Prannoy Rises to World No. 12)

Meanwhile, women's doubles fourth seeds Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa easily trumped Japanese pair of Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara 21-16, 21-14 in 29 minutes to enter the second round.

Later, Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy beat compatriots K. Dilshad and Tarun Kona 21-16, 21-9 in 21 minutes to also proceed to men's doubles second round.

However, Saili Rane suffered an opening round defeat in women's singles as she went down to Japan's Yui Hashimoto 17-21, 11-21 in 35 minutes. Another Japanese Sayaka Sato accounted for P.C. Thulasi, winning 21-15, 21-6 in half an hour.

Later, Chinese Taipei's Lu Chia Pin and Chia Hsin Lee beat Kona and N. Sikki Reddy 21-18, 21-16 in 29 minutes in mixed doubles first round while Japan's Shiho Tanaka and Koharu Yonemoto took care of Pradnya Gadre and Sikki 21-18, 22-20 in 30 minutes in women's doubles first round.