India Open: Saina and Sindhu progress to pre-quarters; Indian men crash out

The day started with Sai Praneeth losing to Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia 22-20, 21-13. The first set was a closely fought affair, with Praneeth losing in the tiebreaker, however, Kuncoro dominated the second set to knock Praneeth out. Ajay Jayaram continued his poor record against Marc Zwiebler with a 12-21, 21-13, 19-21 loss. The World No. 24 fought back and won the second set, and was in with a brilliant chance to win the match in the third, when he was leading 19-17, but the German won four points in a row to swing the tie in his favour.

India's biggest hope in the men's singles, Srikant Kidambi also bowed out, losing to Tian Houwei of China after a marathon match. Houwei, who now has a 6-1 head-to-head record with Srikant despite losing to him last month at the Asia Team Championship, won the first set comfortably, by 21-13. However, the World No.10 bounced back to win the second set and the third set went into a tiebreaker. Houwei held his nerve better than his opponent, and closed out the third set at 24-22.

There was no upset on the cards when Sourabh Varma took on fourth seeded Lin Dan and lost 21-18, 21-9.

H S Prannoy could not carry on the momentum he had gained from his win at the Swiss Open earlier this month, as he surrendered to Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk 21-23, 21-18, 13-21. The last encounter between these two players was in the Swiss Open, when Prannoy came out on the right side of another three-set encounter.

Saina Nehwal gave the Indian fans something to cheer about, when she cruised to a 21-7, 21-13 win over fellow Indian Tanvi Lad. The second seed will now face Nichaon Jindapol in the next round. P V Sindhu also managed a comfortable 21-8, 21-8 win over Jeanine Cicognini to book a tie against Busanan Ongbumrungpan in the pre-quarters.