India's leading shuttler Nikhil Kanetkar thrashed Aamir Gaffar of England 15-7, 15-7 to move into the second round in the Singapore Open badminton tournament even as Pullela Gopichand and Aparna Popat booked places in the main draw.

Kanetkar, who is one of the two direct entries from India into the main draw of the event, needed only 35 minutes to overcome the Englishman. The southpaw next plays Yohan Hadukus Wiratana of Hong Kong in the second round.

Wiratana defeated 13th seed Przemyslaw Wacha of Poland 15-12, 15-6 to cause the first upset of the tournament.

Meanwhile, Chetan Anand, who qualified for the main draw, lost to Sho Sasaki of Japan 9-15, 6-15 and bowed out in the first round.

Earlier, in the final qualifying round matches played on Tuesday night, former All England champion Pullela Gopichand, who is returning to competition after a long break after recovering from a series of knee injuries, took merely 30 minutes to overcome Asuncion Kennevic of the Phillipines 15-5, 15-7 in his second qualifying match.

He had beaten Malaysia's Wei Chung Pei 15-5, 15-2 in the opening match.

Gopichand plays Yousuke Nakanishi of Japan while Popat will take on eighth seed Hongyan Pi of France in their first matches in the main draw.

Popat was at her best as she comprehensively beat Commonwealth Games champion Li Li of Singapore 11-8, 11-7 before thrashing Miyo Akao of Japan 13-10, 11-0 to enter the main draw.

Meanwhile, Arvind Bhat joined J B S Vidyadhar in the losers' list, going down to Chong Wei Lee of Malaysia 12-15, 15-10, 10-15 in the final round of the qualifying draw.

World champion Xia Xuanze is the favourite in the men's singles, but he will face a stiff challenge from Wong Choong Han of Malaysia, a finalist in 2001.

Defending champion Chen Hong of China is the top seed while Kenneth Jonassen of Denmark is seeded second. The two are placed ahead of Xia and Wong, who are seeded third and fourth respectively.

Among the women, world champion Zhang Ning of China is top seeded while compatriot Gong Ruina is No. 2.

Defending women's champion Zhou Mi is seeded fifth, behind Mia Audina Tjiptawan of the Netherlands and Wang Chen of Hong Kong.

The seedings:

Men's singles: 1. Chen Hong (CHN), 2. Kenneth Jonassen (DEN), 3. Xia Xuanze (CHN), 4. Wong Choong Hann (MAS), 5. Anders Boesen (DEN), 6. Ronald Susilo (SIN), 7. Niels Christian Kaldau (DEN), 8. Hidetaka Yamada (JPN).

Women's singles: 1. Zhang Ning (CHN), 2. Gong Ruina (CHN), 3. Mia Audina Tjiptawan (NED), 4. Wang Chen (HKG), 5. Zhou Mi (CHN), 6. Xie Xingfang (CHN), 7. Camilla Martin (DEN), 8. Pi Hongyan (FRA).