Thailand Open: Satwik-Chirag pair eases into second round; Prannoy suffers shock loss in opener

BANGKOK: Former champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty eased into the men's doubles second round of the Thailand Open, a BWF Super 500 tournament, beating Malayasian duo Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub Azriyn and Tan Wee Kiong, here on Wednesday.

The world no. 3 Indians registered a 21-13, 21-13 straight games victory over Malaysian counterparts to set up a second round clash with Chinese pair of Zeng Wei Han and Xie Hao Nan.

On the other hand, world no 83 Indian Meiraba Luwang Maisnam pulled off a major upset, beating senior compatriot and world no 9 H S Prannoy 21-19, 21-18 in opening round.

Before registering an upset win over Prannoy, the 21-year-old from Manipur, won two qualification matches to enter main draw.

Maisnam will next play Mads Christophersen of Denmark, who defeated Kiran George 21-15, 13-21, 21-17 in the opening round of Super 500 tournament.

In the women's singles, Ashmita Chaliha defated the higher ranked Indonesian shuttler 19-21, 21-15, 21-14 to sail into the second round while Unnati Hooda suffered a 21-14, 14-21, 9-21 loss at the hands of Belgian opponent Lianne Tan.

Malvika Bansod too crashed out in the first after losing 11-21, 10-21 to top seed chinese Han Yue, who will be Chaliha's second round opponent.

On Tuesday, world no. 42 mixed doubles pair of SK Karunakaran and Aadya Variath beat world No. 155 Tanakorn Meechai and Fungfa Korpthammakit in straight games 21-17, 21-16 to enter round of 16.

The duo will next take on second-seed Indonesians Rinov Rivaldy and Pitha Haningtyas Mentari.