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Qualification and men’s singles main draw matches were played on the opening day of the Yonex Canada Open Grand Prix tournament. As far as the Indian point of view is concerned, four players were in fray on the first day of this category 4 event of badminton.
Out of these four shuttlers, three players, namely Anand Pawar, Ajay Jayaram and B.Sai Praneeth progressed through to the next round whereas R.M.V Gurusaidutt faltered in the opening round.
9th seed and World No. 33 Ajay Jayaram knocked out the World No. 125 Taipei shuttler Shih Kuei Chun 21-10, 21-19 in just 35 minutes. 28-year-old Indian started the match on a positive note as he grabbed eight points in a row when the scores were six all. With such a huge lead in hand, he faced absolutely no difficulty in closing the opening game 21-10.
Second game was a lot more evenly contested as both the players were fighting hard for each and every point. This game went neck to neck till 19-all but it was at this point when Jayaram showed his experience as he clinched the next two points in quick succession to draw the curtains on the challenge of the 21-year-old Taipei player. He will now face Huang Yuxiang of China in the second round.
B. Sai Praneeth, who performed exceptionally well in the U.S Open Grand Prix Gold last week, continued his good performance as he defeated the 225th ranked Alistair Casey of Scotland 21-11, 21-17 in a match which lasted for mere 27 minutes. The 22-year old Hyderabadi, who is currently ranked 38th in the world will now take on the World No. 128 Jan Frohlich of Czech Republic in the next round.
11th seed Anand Pawar, who lost in the second round of U.S Open Grand Prix Gold got the better of his American opponent Nicholas Waller in a completely one sided affair. 44th ranked Pawar defeated Waller 21-9, 21-10 in a 23 minute match. He will now play the Chinese shuttler Zhu Siyuan for a place in third round.
The only disappointing news of the day came from the 25-year-old shuttler R.M.V Gurusaidutt. He lost to the World No. 304 Shi Yuqi of China 21-9 21-14 in the opener.
