Shuttler B. Sai Praneeth eases into second round of Japan Open

Ace Indian shuttler B.Sai Praneeth kicked off his campaign at the Japan Open with a comfortable straight-games win over Japanese star Kenta Nishimoto in the opening round of the $750,000 tournament at the Musashino Forest Sports Plaza on Tuesday. 

Praneeth hardly broke a sweat as he eased past Kenta Nishimoto of Japan 21-17, 21-13 in the first round of the tournament that lasted just 42 minutes.

The 26-year-old Indian will now lock horns with another Japanese opponent Kanta Tsuneyama for a place in the quarterfinals of the men's singles event. 

Praneeth, who had pulled out of the last edition of the Japan Open, has come into this event on the back of his opening-round defeat at the hands of Hong Kong's Wong Wing Ki Vincent in the recently-concluded Indonesia Open.

In the mixed doubles event, the Indian pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa also stormed into the second round of the tournament with an easy 21-14, 21-19 victory over Germany's Marvin Emil Seidel and Linda Efler in the first-round clash that lasted a little over half an hour. 

Meanwhile, India's Manu Attri and B.Sumeeth Reddy have suffered a major blow as they knocked out of the tournament after going down in straight games in the opening round of their mixed doubles' clash. Attri and Reddy slumped to a 12-21, 16-21 defeat against the Malaysian duo of Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin Mohd Rumsani in a clash that lasted just 27 minutes.