Sankar Muthusamy claimed the biggest win of his fledgling career on Wednesday after beating world No 32 Nhat Nguyen in the first round of the US Open Super 300 event.
Muthusamy, a World Junior Championship silver medalist, beat eighth seed Nguyen 21-11, 21-16 in a dominant first-round win. The Indian will next face Israel’s Misha Zilberman in the second round.
Fresh after winning the title at the Canada Open Super 500, Lakshya Sen began his US Open campaign with a comfortable 21-8, 21-16 win over Finland’s Kalle Koljonen. Sen will next face Jan Louda in the second round.
Should Muthusamy and Sen win their respective second-round matches, they would face each other in the quarter-finals.
Third seed PV Sindhu began her campaign with a straight-games win over American qualifier Disha Gupta. Sindhu secured a 21-15, 21-10 win in 27 minutes to set up a second-round clash against Chinese Taipei’s Sung Shuo Yun.
Ruthvika Gadde and B Sai Praneeth, however, lost in the first round in their respective events. Gadde lost 21-14, 21-11 to Lin Hsiang Ti. Praneeth, on the other hand, lost 21-16, 14-21, 19-21 to second seed Li Shi Feng in a 74-minute encounter.
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