Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram, chasing a third consecutive Dutch Open crown, reached the last-16 stage of the competition on Thursday after beating Bulgaria's Philip Shisov in straight games. Jayaram's compatriot Parupalli Kashyap also progressed to the pre-quarters after prevailing through a hard-fought three-game encounter against Denmark's Rasmus Gemke. The other Indian in the men's singles, Sarang Lakhanee, bowed out in the second round after being defeated by Estonia's Raul Must 17-21, 17-21.
Jayaram, named as the top seed in the men's singles roster, hammered Shisov 21-7, 21-9 in his second-round match. Kashyap, seeded 11th in the tournament, was made to sweat by Gemke. Kashyap won the first game, before being blanked in the second. The Indian managed to turn things around in the third and won 21-11, 7-21, 21-10. Kashyap faces Must, who finished runner-up last year, in his last-16 match.
In mixed doubles, B Sumeeth Reddy and Meghana Jakkampudi got the better of the German duo Daniel Benz and Theresa Wurm 21-11, 21-17 to set up a clash against Dutch pair Jelle Maas and Imke Van der Aar in the next round.
The other Indian mixed doubles pair, Pranaav Cherry Chopra and Sikki Reddy, who are chasing their third title in 2016, comfortably beat Dutch pair Ties Van Der Lecq and Alyssa Tirtosentono 21-5, 21-16. The fourth seeds will now face France's Jordan Corvee and Anne Tran.
In the men's doubles, top seeds Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy will start their campaign against local pair Jacco Arends and Ruben Jill. Pranaav Cherry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar face German duo Bjarne Geiss and Fabian Holzer in their tournament opener.