Guru, Pranaav-Ashwini reach main draw of Australia Open

Sydney: Commonwealth Games bronze medallist RMV Gurusaidutt and mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Ashwini Ponnappa reached the main draw of the USD 750,000 Australian Open badminton tournament here on Tuesday.

Guru, who had to endure a series of serious injuries of late, started his campaign with a bang as he brushed aside Malaysia's Ai Wei Jian 21-13 21-9 in the opening match, before prevailing over Japan's Kazumasa Sakai 21-15 21-8 in the second clash of the qualifiers.

Pranaav and Ashwini, too, made a positive start to their campaign in mixed doubles as they beat German combo of Mark Lamsfuss and Isabel Herttrich 21-19 21-17 in the first round. The Indian pair then defeated local shuttlers Cham Chen and Susan Wang 21-14 21-6 to make it to the main draw.

Other Indians, including Olympic bronze medallist and defending champion Saina Nehwal, World no. 4 K Srikanth and Commonwealth Games champion P Kashyap, will start their campaign tomorrow.

Two-time World Championship bronze medallist, P V Sindhu and Commonwealth Games silver medallist duo of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, will also be seen in action tomorrow.