National women's champion Aparna Popat got the better of qualifier Rachel Van Cutsen of Netherlands to move into the second round of the Swiss Open badminton tournament at Basel, Switzerland [Images].
Popat lost the opening game but came back strongly to beat Cutsen 8-11, 11-4, 11-5 in 34 minutes, according to information received in New Delhi.
She will now face eighth seed Petya Nedeltcheva of Bulgaria in the next round.
But it was not a happy outing for world no. 55 Nikhil Kanetkar in the men's draw as he was made to bite the dust by Arief Rasidi of France [Images] in the opening round.
Rasidi, ranked 22 places below Kanetkar, had little trouble in overpowering the southpaw 15-4, 15-9.
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