Praneeth, Thulasi reach second round of Australia Open

Young shuttlers B Sai Praneeth and P C Thulasi crossed the opening hurdle without breaking any sweat but it was curtains for five Indian doubles pairs in the USD 750,000 Star Australian Super Series here today.
World no. 77 Praneeth brushed aside local shuttler Hoe Keat Oon 21-7 21-11 in a men's singles match, while Thulashi got the better off USA's Jamie Subandhi 21-16 21-18 in the women's singles competition.
Praneeth will next take on Chinese sixth seed Zhengming Wang, while Thulasi might clash with compatriot Saina Nehwal if ace Indian shuttler can prevail in the opening round clash against Sun Yu of China later in the day.

It was a bad day for the Indian doubles pairs as three of them became first round victims.
While local combination of Ross Smith and Renuga Veeran edged out Arun Vishnu and Aparna Balan 23-21 20-22 24-22 in a 46-minute mixed doubles match, second seeded Chinese pair of Chen Xu and Jin Ma defeated Manu Attri and Siki Reddy 21-17 21-16 in another match.
In another mixed doubles clash, Akshay Dewalkar and Pradnya Gadre were shown the door 16-21 14-21 by Hong Kong combination of Yun Lung Chan and Ying Suet Tse.
Indian women's doubles pair of Pradnya Gadre and Siki Reddy too failed to cross the first round after going down 17-21 21-19 10-21 to eighth seeds Pia Zebadiah Bernadeth and Rizki Amelia Pradipta of Indonesia.

In men's doubles the results were no different as India's Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy B were thrashed 17-21 11-21 by seventh seeds Haifeng Fu and Nan Zhang of China.