02 April,2014 07:56 PM IST | | Agencies
P Kashyap stuns World no 7 Chinese Zhengming Wang, while Saina Nehwal makes mince meat of Austria's Simone Prutsch but it's heartbreak for P V Sindhu as she's ousted by World No.3 Chinese Shixian Wang in the first round of the India Super Series
PV Sindhu
New Delhi: While India's best bet Saina Nehwal delivered a dominant performance to enter Round 2, there was stunned silence as P.V. Sindhu's shot went into the net to give Chinese Shixian Wang the win in the opening round of women's singles at the $250,000 India Open Super Series here Wednesday.
Eighth seed Saina eased past Austrian Simone Prutsch 21-7, 21-9 in 25 minutes to enter the pre-quarters where she will take on Thai Natcha Saengchot in their first ever match.
Sindhu had entered the tournament confident that her 3-0 win-record over the second seed would give her a psychological advantage. But that was not to be as the teen sensation was ousted by Shixian 15-21, 21-12, 10-21 in a marathon match which lasted an hour and nine minutes.
After trading the first two games, Sindhu was leading 3-0 but the reigning All-England champion displayed supreme skills to take an almost insurmountable 16-4 lead over the Hyderabadi.
It was only a matter of minutes before the former World No.1 reached home with Sindhu's error.
But there was good news in men's singles.
Parupalli Kashyap today produced one of his finest performances as he stunned world number seven Chinese Zhengming Wang in a thrilling three-game victory here today.
Kashyap, who played with a strapping on his shoulder after suffering a partial dislocation in German Open, prevailed over Wang 21-12 17-21 21-12 in a men's singles match which lasted exactly an hour.
In the second round, Kashyap will take on friend and compatriot R.M.V. Gurusaidutt.
World No.24 Kashyap was always the underdog going into the encounter given the fact that he had not managed to win a game against the World No.7 in their past two encounters.
"I have played him twice before and he is very good at anticipating the opponents strokes. So today I kept playing at a faster pace and took a few risks and that helped me," said Kashyap.
