Top seed K Srikanth suffered a straight-games defeat, but three other Indians, including Ajay Jayaram and H S Prannoy, advanced to the second round of the US $120,000 Macau Open Grand Prix Gold on Tuesday.
World No 7 Srikanth's poor run extended as he made yet another early exit after a 16-21, 21-23 defeat to Christie Jonatan of Indonesia, ranked No 40, in the opening round.
However, ninth seeded Jayaram, who had made it to the final of the Korea Super Series and won the Dutch Open earlier this season, came up with a superb show to send Hong Kong's Tam Chun Hei packing 21-6, 25-23 in another men's singles match.
He will take on China’s Lin Guipu next.
Seventh seed Prannoy scored a 21-15, 16-21, 21-18 victory over Indonesia's Sukamta Evert, while 15th seed B Sai Praneeth accounted for Indonesia's Fikri Ihsandi Hadmadi 21-18, 23-21.
Prannoy will take on Chinese Taipei's Lin Chia Hsuan, while Sai Praneeth will meet Uzbekistan's Artyom Savatyugin next.
Fifth seeded P V Sindhu, a two-time bronze medallist at the World Championships, opens her women's singles campaign against Kim Hyo Min of Korea on Wednesday, while the women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, seeded second, meet Japan’s Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota.
Image: Ajay Jayaram
Photograph: Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images
