Indian pair contribute latest scalp

Sharath Kamal Achanta and Sathiyan Ganansekaran have taken their rightful place in the spotlight after the unseeded Indian players became the latest pair to defeat seeded opposition, negotiating a difficult five-game contest against Japanese seventh seeds Shunsuke Togami and Yukiya Uda (11-6, 11-8, 8-11, 9-11, 11-9).

However, Achanta and Gnanasekaran’s fellow countrymen Harmeet Desai and Manav Vikash Thakkar tasted defeat over on table 2 as Hong Kong China’s Lam Siu Hang and Ng Pak Nam extended their stay (13-11, 11-8, 11-13, 6-11, 11-2).

Balazova and Matelova exit the stage

The women’s doubles event has already lost the third seeded partnership in Budapest with German qualifiers Chantal Mantz and Wan Yuan staging a big upset against Slovakia’s Barbora Balazova and Czech Republic’s Hana Matelova (11-3, 5-11, 5-11, 15-13, 11-8).

Puerto Rican no.7 seeds Adriana and Melanie Diaz have also been eliminated, losing out to England’s Tin-Tin Ho and Austria’s Karoline Mischek in straight games (15-13, 11-8, 11-7).

Mixed association partnerships suffer defeat

Egypt’s Dina Meshref and Greece’s Aikaterini Toliou have been defeated in the opening round of the women’s doubles event with the no.4 seeded Japanese pair of Miu Hirano and Kasumi Ishikawa proving too strong (11-9, 11-5, 12-10).

The other mixed association combination involved in the 11.40am session of Brazil’s Caroline Kumahara and the United States’ Lily Zhang also exited the competition after falling short in their encounter with Thailand’s Orawan Paranang and Suthasini Sawettabut (14-12, 11-6, 9-11, 12-10).

Local favourites fall

A brave performance but Hungary’s Adam Szudi and Szandra Pergel have fallen at the first hurdle of the mixed doubles race, losing out to India’s Sharath Kamal Achanta and Manika Batra in a tense five-game affair (11-8, 9-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-7).

“In the first game we managed to win, they were struggling with our style of play but in the second I feel we played on a higher level but lost! Adam played very cleverly changing the pace and the direction on his shots and it took a bit of time for us to find the right response to it. From the fourth game onwards Manika started to play a bit more aggressive so I think that gave us the edge for the final game too. We are happy to win this one and hoping to reach at least one round further.” Sharath Kamal Achanta

Third seeds Lubomir Pistej and Barbora Balazova are out of the running after the Slovak duo suffered a shock 3-1 defeat at the hands of Spain’s Alvaro Robles and Maria Xiao (7-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-5).

Top seeds sail through

Seeded first for the mixed doubles event in Budapest, Wong Chun Ting and Doo Hoi Kem are off to a winning start following a solid 3-1 victory for the Hong Kong China pair in their round one meeting with Puerto Rican qualifiers Brian Afanador and Adriana Diaz (11-2, 6-11, 11-5, 12-10).

We’ve also lost our first seeded entry of the competition with Serbians Aleksandar Karakasevic and Izabela Lupulesku ousting French no.6 seeds Tristan Flore and Laura Gasnier (12-10, 13-11, 12-10).

“We are trying for the Olympics so every match matters to have a chance to make it. The score will show it was a win with three straight games but all the games were decided by only a two point margin. I have to praise my partner Izabela, who played extremely well in this match on receive and during the rallies played lots of good shots at the key moments. Next round we will have to play a bit better to have a chance to win a medal here in Budapest.” Aleksandar Karakasevic

Who meets who on day one?