Kidambi Srikanth and PV Sindhu lit up India's badminton campaign in Rio, progressing to the quarterfinals of their respective singles events.
While Srikanth marched into the quarterfinals of the men's singles after beating world No. 5 Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark 21-19, 21-19, Sindhu cruised past Chinese Taipei's Tzu Ying Tai 21-13, 21-15 in the women's singles.
"She [Tai] was a very tricky player," Sindhu said after the match. "Even though I was leading, nothing was for granted. It was a good game, and even she played well.
"I was not just aiming at the body. It was a mix of everything. Sometimes, I was hitting out, but I was always alert, and ready for the next point. I didn't take it easy."
Srikanth will next play two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan of China on Wednesday, while Sindhu will have to beat China's Wang Yihan for a spot in the semifinals.
"It's a tough match tomorrow against the world No.2," Sindhu said. "A lot will depend on the strategy on that particular day, which I'll have to discuss with my coach."
Sindhu had a 2-4 record against Tai Tzu going into the match, having beaten her last at the Denmark Open last year, but she opened up a 3-1 lead early on and managed to lead 11-6 at the break.
Tai depended on her deceptive game to reduce the margin to 10-12, but she was equally erratic with her placements, while Sindhu showed better presence of mind. Sindhu won a video referral to reach game point at 20-13 and then pocketed it comfortably with Tai hitting wide.
After the change of ends, Sindhu once again moved to a 3-1 lead but she erred twice on her backhand returns to give away two points. Tai tried to take away the pace from the rallies and came up with a few down-the-line smashes to make it 6-6 after Sindhu dropped her serve.
However, Tai's inability to rein in her unforced errors saw Sindhu lead 11-6 at the interval. Tai tried to put pressure on Sindhu but failed to give the finishing touch as Sindhu sailed away to a 14-7 lead.
Tai found it difficult to control the shuttle and hit long twice to allow Sindhu a lead of 17-11. A couple of drop shots deflected by the net chord took Sindhu to 19-12 before Tai sent one to the net to gift eight match points to Sindhu. Tai saved three match points before another long shot from her gifted Sindhu the match.
Earlier, Srikanth had joined Parupalli Kashyap as the only two Indian men's singles players to reach the quarterfinals of the Olympics.
Srikanth played his trademark attacking game throughout the tight match, taking every opportunity to land smashes and put Jorgensen under pressure.
The Dane ran him close in the second game -- which was tighter than the first despite the same scores -- but Srikanth pulled away at the end.
Srikanth had earlier beaten Finland's Henri Hurskainen and Mexico's Lino Munoz before the last 16 match.
Srikanth, who is playing in his first Olympics, is ranked world No. 11. He had beaten Lin to win the China Open title in 2014.