Day 2 at the Osaka Mayor’s Cup, Asia’s Grade A event, saw the seeds continue their march through the draws relatively unscathed.

In the boy’s event number 1 Yuki Bhambri (IND) had a straight sets 60 62 victory over Wild Card Shu Saito (JPN). Number 2 seed Hiroki Moriya (JPN) also continued into the 3rd round with a 62 63 victory over Stephen Hoh (AUS). Number 3 seed Hsieh (TPE) put a shaky start behind him with a 75 63 victory over Wild Card Suk-Yong Jeong (KOR).

Number 12 seed, Jordan Kelly-Houston (NZL) was the only seeded player to fall in the first round and day 2 saw the loss of just one more seeded player, number 9 Alex Sanders (AUS) was defeated by Suichi Sekiguchi (JPN) 64 64. The 3rd round sees 6 all seed matches to be played. However, the pick of the 3rd round matches will be number 7 Nikala Scholtz (RSA) versus unseeded Shuichi Sekiguchi (JPN). Sekiguchi will be confident after dispatching the seeded Sanders, and will have the large home support behind him, whilst Scholtz comes into the tournament having just won two consecutive titles in China in the past fortnight.

The top seeds in the girls’ draw have not found it as easy as the boys. Kurumi Nara (JPN) was forced to battle to overcome Hannah James (GBR), winning the match in straight sets but the scoreline of 76(8) 64 demonstrates how close the match was. Number 2 Ana Bogdan found the going easier against Qualifier Mariko Kaneko (JPN), winning 63 62. Number 3 Kristina Mladenovic, a Wild Card pick by the tournament organisers, defeated Khunpak Issara (THA) 76(4) 64.

Two more of the lower seeds in the girls’ event went out, number 11 Kanyapat Narattana (THA) and number 16 Nicha Lerpitaksinchai (THA) lost to Chinami Ogi (JPN) and Vaszilisza Bulgakova (HUN) respectively.

>World Class Field Assembles for Grade A in Japan
>Seeds Safely Through in Osaka