Tata Open: Mudra shocks 5th seed Claudia

Home favourite PV Sindhu brushed aside the challenge from Vietnam’s Thu Huyen Le in the women’s singles of Tata Open, winning 21-11 21-10 in the first round match at the NSCI here on Thursday.

However, 22-year-old Mudra Dhainje produced the upset of the day, scoring a shock win over fifth seed Claudia Mayer of Austria 21-14 21-16 to advance to the second round. “I was nervous after learning that I would be playing against a fifth seed in the opening round. I asked my fellow players regarding Claudia’s (Mayer) game,” said Mudra.

Nervous she may have been, but Mudra managed to hide it well on court. She played some classy shots and kept her opponent guessing all the time. “I did expect a tough and a longer rally. It was a tough game no doubt, but I expected it to go longer than 30 minutes,” said Mudra, who plays for Air India. She will now take on Dhanya Nair, who was equally efficient in her 21-5 21-7 win over Daksha Gautam. Defending champion PC Thulasi sailed smoothly against qualifier Daya Elsa Jacob 21-12 21-18 to round off a fruitful day for the Indian women.

In the men’s singles, top seed Yunus Alamsyah of Indonesia eased past B Sai Praneeth 21-14 21-18. Among the Indian shuttlers, second seed Gurusai Dutt, third seed Arvind Bhat and fourth seed Anand Pawar all progressed to the second round.

Gurusai beat Malaysia’s Muhud Syawal Mohd Ismail 21-14 21-10 and will next take on another Malaysian IZ Zainuddir, who was taken the distance by Sukamta Evert before winning 21-23 21-14 21-18.