Hyderabad blues? Not really8230;

Some enthusiasts travelled 30 km from the city-centre to watch her in action and they were not disappointed with...

Some enthusiasts travelled 30 km from the city-centre to watch her in action and they were not disappointed with what Saina Nehwal dished in her opening match at Gachibowli Stadium. Yu Hirayama, of course, travelled more than 6300 kms from Tokyo for the Indian Open, and had nothing to smile about after her 21-7, 21-14 demolition in half an hour.

Perhaps the only name that could pull the crowds to this far-flung competition venue, Nehwal shoulders the Gold GP, and does it with no fuss whatsoever 8212; not on the court, not while dealing with the media thereafter. Having wrapped up her opponent, Nehwal walked into the media melee straight after winning the last point and smilingly obliged both a journo intent on reminding her of her All-England poor-show with a sound-byte, as well as a five-year-old who dragged her by the finger into a posed photo.

She was in no mood to oblige her opponent with easy points though. Ready for action at the net, even keen on being drawn into rallies, Nehwal wore out her Japanese opponent 8212; smashing hard and accurate, and at will too, when she got bored of the shuttle-barters.

8220;I knew her game, and I played it safe. My next opponent is Japanese too 8212; No 13 in the world 8212; so I guess there8217;s a lot of running around to do again,8221; she quipped later.

Making it a memorable day for the locals was another Hyderabadi, Chetan Anand, who kept India8217;s hopes alive in the men8217;s singles with an audacious 24-22, 21-15 win over Malaysian Sairal Amar.

City-mate JBS Vidyadhar rounded up the day with Hyderabadi relish, beating Yan Kit Chan of Hong Kong 21-14, 21-18.

India8217;s top hope Aravind Bhat, however, went down 21-17, 20-22, 21-14 to higher-ranked Korean Sung Hwan Park 21-17, 20-22, 21-14. P Kashyap could not repeat his first-round heroics, going down 21-9, 18-21, 21-12 to Japanese Sho Sasaki.

Results India

Women8217;s Singles

Eriko Hirose JPN bt N Siki Reddy 21-9, 21-12;

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Gayatri Vartak bt Agnese Allegrini ITA 17-21, 21-7, 21-16; Aditi Mutatkar bt Soratja Chansrisukot THA 21-19, 21-14; Lan Lu CHN bt Trupti Murgunde 21-7, 21-14

Men8217;s Singles

Sho Sasaki JPN bt RMV Guru Sai Datt 21-18, 22-24, 21-16; Tien Minh Ngyuen VIE bt Jishnu Sanyal 21-8 21-19;

Yi Lu CHN bt Ajay Jayram

22-20, 21-10;

Anand Pawar bt Andres Corpancho PER 21-14, 21-10;

Mixed Doubles

Sudket Prapakamol and Saral Thounghongkam THA bt

Diju V and Jawala Gutta 21-17, 21-11

Top seeds pull out

The women8217;s field thinned down by a slab 8212; with top-seed and world no 1 Xie Xingfang pulling out. The Chinese cited injury 8212; through a letter submitted to the tournament director on Wednesday. Later at night, it was confirmed that men8217;s top seed Bao Chunlai would not be playing the tournament either.