Indian shuttler Ashwini Ponnappa got off to a winning start on Wednesday when she won both her women’s and mixed doubles first round matches at the German Open Grand Prix Gold in Mulheim.
Partnering Maharashtra’s Pradnya Gadre, the Bangalore girl overcame Dutch pairing of Samantha Barning and Eefje Muskens 22-20, 21-11 in 26 minutes at the RWE Sporthalle.
In the mixed doubles section, Ashwini, paired with Kerala shuttler Tarun Kona, upset Indonesian fifth seeds Riky Widianto and Puspita Richi Dili in three games. The Indians won 23-25, 21-16, 21-17 in 53 minutes to set up a second round clash against experienced English pair of Chris Adcock and Gabrielle White.
Ajay Jayaram, seeded tenth, reached the pre-quarterfinals with a 21-17, 21-16 win over Riichi Takeshita of Japan in the second round. Jayaram will take on eight seed Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia, a 21-19, 21-7 winner over Malaysia’s Soon Huat Goh in the last-16 match on Thursday.
In the first round, the world number 32 Jayaram prevailed over Brice Leverdez of France 21-12, 21-18.
Anand Pawar had to sweat it out before overcoming world number 51 Michael Lahnsteiner of Austria 22-20, 16-21, 21-16. Pawar will meet sixth seed Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in the next round.
Arvind Bhat was up against compatriot Anup Sridhar and the 33-year-old managed a 21-17, 21-15 victory to sail into the second round. He will take on second seed Boonsak Ponsana next.
However, it was curtains for RMV Gurusaidutt, who lost to Bin Qiao of China 17-21, 11-21.
In mixed doubles, Arun Vishnu and Aparna Balan reached the main draw.
India duo scored a 21-15, 21-10 win over German pair of Hannes Kaesbauer and Kira Kattenbeck in the first round and then prevailed over Irish brother and sister combo of Sam Magee and Chloe Magee 21-19, 21-12.
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