Manjusha Kanwar, PVV Laxmi and Neelima Choudhary also joined Popat in the third round with contrasting wins after all got first-round byes.

Playing her first singles here, PVV Laxmi eased past Fijian G Agnes 11-3, 11-2, Chaudhary beat Scotland's Gillian Martin 11-4, 11-1 and Manjusha Kanwar matched Popat's feat in her 11-1, 11-1 win over Amrita Sawaram of Mauritius.

Popat is now expected to run into world No 16, the controversial Chinese-born New Zealander Li Feng in the quarter-finals. Feng had a relatively hard-fought victory over Jersey's Danielle Le Feuvre 11-9, 11-2 in the second round.

Among the rest, Delhi-based Choudhary, who next meets Jersey's Elizabeth Cann, has a bigger test looming up in the pre-quarters against world No 10 and top seed here Kelly Morgan. The Welsh star did not drop even a point in the secondround beating Fijian Mara Faletoesse 11-0, 11-0.

Manjusha Kanwar comes up against Canadian Charmaine Reed, before a possible meeting with second seed England's Julia Mann in the pre-quarterfinals.

Other Indians to advance today were the mixed doubles pairs of Vincent Lobo/Madhumita Bisht and Markose Bristow/Archana Deodhar. The Lobo/Bisht combination got into the second round beating the Guernsey pair of Mark Leadbeater/ Sarah Le Moigne 15-4, 15-5. Bristow and Deodhar had it a bit tougher against the Kiwi combination of Antonio Garguilo and Nicole Gordon 15-8, 15-3.