India made a resounding start to their campaign at the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold with four Indian shuttlers advancing to the second round of the men's singles competition, in Basel, on Wednesday.
Giant-killer B Sai Praneeth, who had stunned former World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in the opening round of the All England Championship last week, prevailed over Switzerland's Mathias Bonny 21-14, 13-21, 21-6 to set up a meeting with Uzbekistan's Artyom Savatyugin.
Eleventh seed Ajay Jayaram thrashed Malaysia's Jiann Shiarng Chiang 21-8, 21-17 in a first round match and will face Japan's Kenichi Tago next.
H S Prannoy, seeded 13th, also reached the second round after a 21-19, 21-19 win over Finland's Kalle Koljonen.
The Indian will take on Germany's Lars Schaenzler next.
Young Sameer Verma also continued to impress with a hard-fought 21-17, 24-22 win over Denmark's Emil Holst. He will face the formidable Wang Zhengming of China in the next round.
In the women's singles, two-time champion and top seed Saina Nehwal will take on Germany's Karin Schnaase, while sixth seed P V Sindhu meets Chloe Magee of Ireland.
