Gopichand advances, Abhinn loses

Shailesh Soni

All England champion Pulella Gopichand stormed into the third round of the Malaysian Open, being played at Malawati stadium in Shah Alam, Malaysia, on Thursday.

The Indian ace, who easily won his first round match on Wednesday, beating Jim Ronny Anderson of Norway 7-5, 7-2, 7-2, had to work hard to prevail over Ayob Sairul Amar of Malyasia 7-2, 0-7, 8-7, 7-3 in his second round match.

Another Indian, Abhinn Shyam Gupta, however, lost to eight seed Ong Ewe Hock of Malyasia 1-7, 2-7, 2-7.

Abhinn made the second round after getting the better of Yogendran Khrishnan of Malaysia 2-7, 7-4, 7-1, 7-5 on Wednesday, while Hock had an easy victory over Kazuhiro Shimogami 7-0, 7-0, 7-4.

World champion Hendrawan also had to work hard to get past Kai Chuen Tam 5-7, 8-6, 7-0, 5-7, 7-2.

The upset of the day was of Roslin Hashim of Malaysia, who was stunned by Cai Yun of China. Cai won in straight game 8-7, 7-4, 7-4.

In the mixed doubles, Chetan Anand and PVV Lakshmi lost to the fourth seeded Danish pair of Michael Lamp and Ann-Lou Jorgensen 0-7, 0-7, 5-7 in the second round.

Anand and Lakshmi had beaten the German pair of Jan Junker and Birgit Overzier 7-3, 7-0,7-3 in the first round.

On Wednesday, another Indian Chetan Anand made top seed Chen Hong work hard for victory before bowing out 0-7, 2-7, 7-8 in another first round match. After two easy games, the top seed had to ward off a late fightback from the young Indian.

Sachin Ratti, who came through the qualifiers, was also unlucky. He also went down fighting, losing to Pei Wei Chung of Malaysia 6-8, 7-4, 4-7, 0-7.

Former World champion Heryanto Arbi stormed into the second round with an upset win over 12th seed Lee Tsuen Seng, the Swiss Open runner-up. The former Indonesian stalwart, ranked a lowly 302, came through tough qualifiers and proved that experience can be a potent force against youth.

In the other upsets of the day, Fung Permadi, the former World Grand Prix champion, was given a 5-7, 7-5, 4-7, 4-7 thrashing by South Korea's 189th-ranked Jang Young Soo.

Thailand’s Boonsak Polsana kept up his mastery over Commonwealth Games champion Wong Choong Hann, coming back from a game down to hand the 13th seeded Choong Hann a 5-7, 8-7, 7-5, 8-6 defeat.

World champion Hendrawan packed off Malaysian Ismail Saman with another polished display, winning 7-6, 7-2, 7-1.

In the men's doubles, India's V Diju and Thomas Sanave edged past the Malaysian pair of Mohd Fairuzizuan B Tazari and Lin Woon Fui 6-8, 7-4, 6-8, 7-3, 7-0 while Vijaydeep Singh and Markose Bristow went down in the second round of the qualifier.

Diju and Sanave will now face the British pair of Nathan Robertson and Anthony Clark. The Britons earlier caused the upset of the day, sending second seeds Zhang Wei and Zhang Jun of China crashing out of the men’s doubles competition. Zhang and Zhang fell prey to their inability to adapt to the seven point system, losing 1-7, 7-4, 7-2, 5-7, 0-7.

In the women's singles, B R Meenakshi, the lone Indian direct entry into the main draw, went down fighting to Yuli Marfuah of Indonesia 1-7, 8-7, 5-7, 8-6, 3-7 in the first round. The other two, Manjusha Kanwar and PVV Lakshmi, both lost in the singles qualifiers.

In the women's doubles, B R Meenakshi and Manjusha Kanwar lost to the Malaysian pair of Fong Chen Yen and Lee Yin Yin 4-7, 2-7, 4-7 in the first round.

In the mixed doubles, Thomas Sanave and B R Meenakshi lost to the Danish pair of Jonas Rasmussen and Jane Bramsen 4-7, 1-7, 4-7 while V Diju and Manjusha Kanwar lost to Albertus Susanto Njoto and Wai Chee Louisa Koon from Hong Kong 7-7, 5-7, 2-7, 3-7.

Earlier report: Gopichand meets Anderson in first round