Former champion Sourabh Verma made a positive start at the $500,000 Chinese Taipei Open, progressing to the second round with a straight-game win over Japan’s Kazumasa Sakai in men’s singles on Wednesday.
The 26-year-old National champion, overcame Sakai 22-20, 21-13 in 38 minutes to set up a clash with top seed and local favourite Chou Tien Chen.
Sourabh emerged as the only surviving Indian in the World Tour Super 300 tournament following the loss of women’s singles player Riya Mookerjee and women’s doubles pair of Aparna Balan and Prajakta Sawant in the opening round.
The results:
Men: Sourabh Verma bt Kazumasa Sakai (Jpn) 22-20, 21-13.
Women: Supanida Katethong (Tha) bt Riya Mookerjee 19-21, 21-11, 21-13.
Doubles: Cheng Yu-Pei & Juang Tz-Ren (Tpe) bt Aparna Balan & Prajakta Sawant 21-19, 21-23, 21-15.