China Open: Arundhati upsets Hirose; Kashyap, Saina advance

Arundhati Pantawane is undoubtedly enjoying a purple patch in her badminton career and the Nagpur girl made the most of it by upsetting world number 14 Eriko Hirose of Japan in straight games to reach the second round of the China Open Super Series Premier in Shanghai on Wednesday.

The ONGC employee, who had jumped to world number 47 in world rankings, needed just 29 minutes to dispose of the experienced Hirose 21-14, 21-18 to set up a second round clash with third seed and former world champion Yihan Wang of China.

Also joining Arundhati in the next round was sixth seed Saina Nehwal and top ranked Indian men’s shuttler P Kashyap.

Saina, who is looking for her maiden title in 2013, survived some anxious moments in the second game before getting the better of Japan’s Nozomi Okhura 21-14, 21-19 in 40 minutes and will now face another Chinese prospect Sun Yu.

While the women’s singles players registered a cent percent win record, the men’s singles stars had a mixed day.

London Olympics quarterfinalist P Kashyap extended his domination on world number 8 Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand when he upset the veteran 22-20, 21-15.

Kashyap, who now enjoys a 4-1 head-to-head advantage over Ponsana, had to save two game points in the first game. But it was his superiority at the net proved to be the defining factor in the outcome of the match. He will now face Japan’s Kento Momota in the second round.

Qualifier Anand Pawar’s challenge in the tournament, however, came to an end when he went down 18-21, 21-10, 21-11 against Japan’s Takuma Ueda.