India's Trupti Murgunde recovered from a one-game deficit to prevail over Larisa Griga of Ukraine and advance to the second round of women's singles in the World Badminton Championship in Madrid on Tuesday.
In complete contrast, national champion Anup Sridhar squandered a one-game lead and lost to Sheng-Shiun Liao of Chinese Taipei 21-19, 15-21, 13-21.
Murgunde, who is India's only remaining hope in the singles draw after the defeats of Chetan Anand and Saina Nehwal on Monday, won 17-21, 21-14, 21-19 in 48 minutes.
After losing the first game, the 79-ranked Indian bounced back to pocket the second. The decider went to the wire but the Indian showed nerves of steel to clinch the game.
Sridhar, ranked 35, ran out of steam after pocketing the first game as Liao came back strongly to take the next two games.
The mixed doubles pair of V Diju and Jwala Gutta also bowed out after giving a strong fight to Teik Chai Gan and Chew Yen Fong of Malaysia. They lost 21-18, 17-21, 21-19.
But there was good news in the doubles event as Jwala Gutta and Shruti Kurian gained from the last minute withdrawal of the top Korean combination of Kyung Won Lee and Hyo Jung Lee to storm into the pre-quarter-finals of the women's doubles.
Gutta and Kurien, who are yet to be tested in the tournament as they had a bye in the first round, could not have expected more from the lady luck, as they were pitted against title contenders and third seeded pair of Kyung Won and Hyo Jung.
The Koreans pulled out due to a back injury to Hyo Jung.
The Indian pair would face the winners of the match between Japanese Kumiko Ogura and Reiko Shiota and Malaysian Chew Yen Fong and Phui Leng See for a place in the quarter-final.
The women's doubles also saw B R Meenakshi and Murgunde clearing their first round hurdle on Monday.
Meenakshi and Murgunde clinched a thriller against Amelie Felix and Florence Lavoie of Canada 21-12, 14-21, 22-20 to advance into the second round where they will face the 16th seeded Chinese combination of Yawen Zhang and Yili Wei later on Tuesday night.
In the men's singles, Anand, ranked 25 in world, played his heart out and gave a tough fight to world no. 5 Lee Hyun II of Korea before succumbing 18-21, 21-18, 10-21 in a thrilling duel that lasted almost an hour.
Anand, who has been struggling to find his form in the IBF circuit this year, came up with a sparkling performance and forced Hyun on the backfoot in the second game after losing the first.
But Hyun made quick amends and slapped the decider on the Indian.
The first round draw against world number nine Yanjiao Jian was always going to be a tough affair for India's teenage sensation Saina, making her maiden appearance at the prestigious event. She went down 10-21, 16-21.
The 16-year-old, who rose to a career best ranking of 30 just before the event, was unlucky to miss out on an easy draw as IBF had to redraw the women's singles charts again due to an error.
