New Delhi: Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal notched up a thrilling three-game victory over Chinese Lu Lan in the opening round to advance to the pre-quarters of the Thailand Grand Prix Gold, in Bangkok, Wednesday.

Commonwealth Games bronze medallist P. Kashyap and young shuttler Sourabh Verma also registered contrasting wins to enter the pre-quarter finals of the men’s singles category.

World No. 4 and top seed Saina staved off a challenge from Lu 21-17, 14-21, 21-18 in the first round women’s singles match which lasted around an hour.

India’s top men’s singles player Kashyap, seeded 14th, also brushed aside Poodchalat Pisit 21-17, 9-21, 21-11 in a 52-minute match first before going past Indonesian Sukamta Evert 21-13, 21-14 in the second round. Kashyap will next take on Mohammed Arif Abdul Latif of Malaysia Thursday.

Sourabh also made a resounding start to his campaign, beating Andre Kurniawan Tedjono 15-21, 21-19, 22-20 in the first round. He then saw off Jen Hao Hsu of Chinese Taipei 21-17, 20-22, 21-16 to set up a clash with Malaysian qualifier Beng Hong Kuan in the third round Thursday. (PTI)