Orleans Masters 2023 | Saina Nehwal ousted in first round, Priyanshu Rajawat and Mithun Manjunath progress
It was a mixed bag for Indians at the Orleans Masters as Sameer Verma crashed out of the men's singles event, while Mithun Manjunath and Priyanshu Rajawat won their respective matches on Wednesday. It was a disappointing end for Verma, who had won the first game but lost from there on.
Playing against Ireland's Nhat Nguyen, Verma lost 19-21, 21-19, 21-17. On the other hand, Manjunath beat higher-ranked opponent from Denmark Victor Svendsen 24-22, 25-23 in straight games, while Rajawat got the better of compatriot Kiran George 21-18, 21-13.
Now Manjunath will be up against Taipei's Yu Jen, who won his match against Rasmus Gemke of Denmark. Rajawat would face the top seed of the tournament Kenta Nishimoto of Japan. B Sai Praneeth will play his match against Leong JH of Malaysia later in the day.
As far as women's singles is concerned, Saina Nehwal was stunned by unknown Tunisian player Neslihan Yigit. The world no.65 beat the Indian star 21-16, 21-14 as the latter looked totally out of sorts in the match. Tanya Hemanth, who came from the qualifiers, managed to win her first-round match against France's Leonice Huet 21-17, 21-18. In another match, Aakarshi Kashyap lost against Japan's Natsuki Nidaira 8-21, 21-13, 8-21.