India's Ayush Shetty produced a sensational straight-game victory over former world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore, while HS Prannoy also advanced to the second round of the USD 240,000 Orleans Masters with a gritty three-game win on Wednesday in Orleans, France.
World No. 42 Ayush, the 2023 World Junior Championships bronze medallist, stunned third seed Loh 21-17, 21-9, recording one of the biggest wins of his career to move into the second round. He will next face Hong Kong's Jason Gunawan.
Prannoy, making his comeback after a long layoff due to illness, fought for 79 minutes to defeat Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei 21-11, 20-22, 21-9. He sets up a clash with second-seeded Taiwanese player Chun-Yi Lin in the next round.
In mixed doubles, Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde secured a thrilling 20-22, 24-22, 21-16 win over Chinese Taipei's Ye Hong Wei and Nicole Gonzales Chan to advance to the second round. The Indian duo will now meet third-seeded Chinese Taipei pair of Po-Hsuan Yang and Ling Fang Hu.
However, Kiran George and Unnati Hooda failed to progress past the first round in singles. George lost 21-15, 16-21, 10-21 to world No. 25 Jia Heng Teh of Singapore, while Hooda was defeated 9-21, 15-21 by world No. 1 An Se Young of Korea.
Malvika Bansod, meanwhile, retired midway through her second game after trailing 6-21, 6-15 in her opening match.
Another mixed doubles pair, Ashith Surya and Amrutha Pramuthesh, also fell in the opening round, losing 10-21, 15-21 to top seeds Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei of Malaysia.
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