Basel, March 14 (IANS): Indian shuttlers H.S. Prannoy and P.V. Sindhu caused upsets in their respective matches to advance to the next round of the $125,000 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold here Wednesday.
Sindhu's women's singles match lasted only two minutes as her South Korean opponent Ji Hyun Sung, seeded third, retired when the score was 7-2 in favour of the Indian. With this, Sindhu now has a 2-0 head-to-head against the World No.5.
The 17-year-old Pullela Gopichand protege will next play Japanese qualifier Yui Hashimoto in their first ever encounter in the second round.
Prannoy, ranked 97 in the world, overcame seventh seed Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand in 55 minutes to advance to the third round at St. Jakobshalle. The Kerala shuttler won 18-21, 21-13, 21-12 in his first ever meeting against the World No.11.
"The win was okay. Actually he got tired trying too hard for points. I made it difficult for him which made him frustrated. That made it easy for me," Prannoy told IANS from Basel.
He will next face Chinese Taipei's 15th seed Tien Chen Chou for a place in the quarterfinals in the tier three tournament Thursday.