India had a mixed day in office at the Russia Open as six singles shuttlers, including Sourabh Verma and Rituparna Das, progressed to the pre-quarterfinals of the $75,000 BWF Tour Super 100 event here on Wednesday.
Eighth seed Sourabh defeated compatriot Rahul Yadav Chittaboina 23-21, 21-11 in men’s singles, while former National champion Rituparna dumped local Victoria Slobodyanyuk 21-11, 21-18 in a women’s contest.
Also reaching the pre-quarterfinals were Siddharth Pratap Singh, fifth seed Subhankar Dey, seventh seed Mugdha Agrey and Vrushali Gummadi in singles, while men’s doubles pair of Arun George and Sanyam Shukla also entered the third round.
However, it was curtains for Ajay Jayaram, P. Kashyap and R.M.V. Gurusaidutt as they suffered contrasting losses in the second round.
While Subhankar ended Ajay Jayaram’s campaign with a thrilling 15-21, 21-14, 21-15 win, fourth seed Kashyap lost 21-12, 21-11 to Japan’s Ryotaro Maruo and Russia’s Vladimir Malkov, seeded second, brushed aside Gurusaidutt 21-14, 21-8 in another match.
The results: Men: Sourabh Verma bt Rahul Yadav Chittaboina 23-21, 21-11; Siddharth Pratap Singh bt Bodhit Joshi 21-8, 21-14; Subhankar Dey bt Ajay Jayaram 15-21, 21-14, 21-15; Ryotaro Maruo (Jpn) bt P. Kashyap 21-12, 21-11. Vladimir Malkov (Rus) bt R.M.V. Gurusaidutt 21-14, 21-8; Misha Zilberman (Isr) bt Pratul Joshi’ 21-12, 18-21, 21-13; Pablo Abain (Esp) bt Chirag Sen 21-14, 16-21, 21-16. Doubles:Arun George & Sanyam Shukla bt Vladimir Nikulov & Artem Serpionov (Rus) 21-15, 21-15.
Women: Rituparna Das bt Victoria Slobodyanyuk (Rus) 21-11, 21-1; Mugdha Agrey bt Yin Fun Lim (Mas) 21-16, 21-19; Vrushali Gummadi bt Elena Komendrovskaja (Rus) 21-11, 21-16; Byeol Lim Lee (Kor) bt Sai Uttejitha Rao 14-21, 21-15, 21-18; Kristin Kuuba (Est) bt Vaidehi Choudhari 21-13, 21-15.