(by Steve Hopkins)

Kanak Jha had a relatively easy time this morning with his minor upset of Brazil’s Vitor Ishiy.  Ishiy is No. 46 in the world (about 10 slots ahead of Jha), but Jha won all three games 11-9, 11-4, and 11-9, advancing to the Round of 32 at the Singapore Smash

In a large event like this one, every win matters – and with this win, Jha secures $7,000 and 90 Ranking Points (enough to move up 10 positions in the World Rankings – perhaps all the way to No. 48 or 49).  Next up for Jha is World No. 7 Truls Moregard with the winner moving on to face Dang Qiu or Shunsuke Togami.  At this stage, with all player having completed just one match, there have been no major upsets or shakeups among the top seeds.  That said, the path to the Finals in Singapore only gets tougher from here.

USA has one player left in the Women’s event as well – with Lily Zhang wining yesterday over Ser Lin Qian of Singapore.  Zhang will next face Lee Eunhye of Taipei on Tuesday.  Just like with the men’s draw, all eight of the top seeds on the women’s side have won their opening match.

Lots of action on tap this week with Finals scheduled for next weekend.

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