Ajay Jayaram, RMV Gurusaidutt, PC Thulasi advance in Dutch Open

Almere (The Netherlands): Defending champion Ajay Jayaram and Commonwealth bronze medallist RMV Gurusaidutt advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of the Dutch Open Grand Prix after notching up straight-game wins in Round 2, here.

Brimming with confidence after his maiden runners-up finish at the Korea Super Series, World No. 25 Jayaram thrashed Germany's Fabian Roth 21-14 21-10 to set up a match against Kasper Lehikoinen of Finland in men's singles.

Ninth seed Gurusaidutt also saw off Chinese Taipei's Chun-Wei Chen 21-14 21-19 in the second round last night. He will next take on Dmytro Zavadsky of Ukraine.

However, it was end of the road for fourth seed B Sai Praneeth after he went down fighting to Denmark's Rasmus Fladberg 21-15 7-21 21-12.

In women's singles, P C Thulasi also made a positive start to her campaign as she prevailed over Netherlands's Gayle Mahulette 20-22 21-15 21-16. She will play Ireland's Chloe Magee next.