Gurusaidutt, Anand Pawar in third round

Shuttlers R.M.V. Gurusaidutt and Anand Pawar advanced on a day other Indians lost at the Australian Open Grand Prix Gold here on Wednesday.

Gurusaidutt, seeded 11th, sealed his place in the men’s singles third round after notching up a hard fought 21-14, 18-21, 21-19 win over Suppanyu Avihingsanon of Thailand in a match that lasted an hour and five minutes.

Later, Pawar moved up after Zulfadli Zulkiffli of Malaysia conceded their match. The Indian won the first game 21-18. But even before the second game started his opponent retired. Ninth-seeded Ajay Jayaram, however, failed to cross the second round going down to unseeded Dong Keun Lee of South Korea 24-26, 19-21 in 47 minutes.

India’s campaign also ended in the women’s singles category with upcoming shuttler Sarada Jasti losing to Yui Hashimoto of Japan 5-21, 13-21 in the first round.

Gurusaidutt, after clinching the first game comfortably, had to fight for every point in the next game before losing it. In the deciding game though, he proved his mettle as he came back from a 4-11 deficit to seal the game and match.

In the match between Jayaram and Keun Lee, the first game was a neck-and-neck affair till 24 points before the Korean took off and bagged the next two points to take the lead.

In the second game, Jayaram, at one stage had an 18-14 lead, but the Indian lost the plot to eventually go down 19-21.

Meanwhile, unseeded Sarada was no match for her Japanese opponent, losing the duel in just 26 minutes. The Indian could win a total of just 18 points as compared to 42 by Hashimoto.