Guru Sai Dutt, Ashwini Ponnappa make cut at Australian Open Superseries

Sydney: Commonwealth Games bronze medallist R.M.V. Guru Sai Dutt and the mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Ashwini Ponnappa reached the main draw of the $750,000 Australian Open Superseries 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 in straight games 21-13, 21-9 in the opening match before prevailing over Japan’s Kazumasa Sakai also in straight games 21-15, 21-8 in the second match of the qualifying round. Meanwhile, Pranaav and Ashwini made a positive start to their campaign in mixed doubles as they defeated the German combination 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 Indian shuttlers, including Olympic bronze medallist and defending champion Saina Nehwal ranked No.1 in the world World No.4 Kidambi Srikanth and Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap will start their respective campaigns on Wednesday.

Two-time World Championship bronze medallist P.V. Sindhu of Hyderabad and the Commonwealth Games silver medal-winning women’s doubles team of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa will also be seen in action on Wednesday.