Rising shuttler PV Sindhu breezed into the quarter-finals of the women's singles while the reigning National champion Sayali Gokhale saw her campaign fall apart as Indian shuttlers endured a mixed day in the Syed Modi International India Open Grand Prix Gold in Lucknow on Thursday.
Sindhu, ranked No 23, hardly met any resistance from the unseeded Victoria Na as she trounced the Australian 21-9, 21-9 in a contest that lasted 18 minutes.
"I had never played against her (Victoria) before, but it was easy today," said Sindhu after the match.
Sindhu's flying start in the first match of the day failed to spur Pune's Gokhale, the other Indian challenger in the women's competition. She lost 21-15, 21-11 to fifth seed Aprilla Yuswandari of Indonesia.
Meanwhile, India's RMV Gurusaidutt caused quite a flutter in the men's singles when he scored a delectable win over Malaysia's Mohammad Arif Abdul Latif, the seventh seed.
The 22-year-old, who had won the gold medal at the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games, beat the Malaysian 21-10, 21-16 in 41 minutes.
"He (Latif) is a tricky player but I was prepared today. I trusted my fitness and I'm glad that it worked today," said Gurusaidutt after the match.
However, men's third seed Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia was stretched to the decider by home favourite B Sai Praneeth, seeded 13 places behind his opponent.
Sai Praneeth was off the blocks quickly, clinching the first game 21-12, but the world No. 26 rallied in his trademark style to restore parity.
Sugiarto dominated the ensuing two games, winning them 21-12, 21-16 to seal a place in the round of eight.
In another men's pre-quarter-final, Indonesia's Alamsyah Yunus defeated Korea's Yim Jong Woo 21-17, 21-13 to move into the next stage.
In the mixed doubles, the Indonesian pair of Fran Kurianwan and Shendy Puspa Irawati beat the Indian duo of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Siki Reddy 21-9, 21-14.
