Saina marches into Singapore Open quarterfinals, Praneeth out

India’s Saina Nehwal dug deep into her reserves to put it across world number 11 Eriko Hirose of Japan 16-21, 21-16, 21-9 to storm into the quarterfinals of the Singapore Open Super Series badminton tournament.

The Indian world number two was pushed on the backfoot by Eriko, who kept pounding winners as well as showing smart net play. The Japanese girl stayed ahead of Saina and went on to bag the opening game at 21-16.

Stung by the opening game loss, Saina was firing on all cylinders, collecting crucial points to gain a healthy lead. Although Eriko did try to mount a fightback in the second game, the Indian gradually widened the points gap and levelled things, pocketing the second game at 21-16.

Saina began the decider on a rousing note. She did allow Eriko to gain the upper hand and gleaned seven consecutive points to take a commanding 15-6 lead before administering the last rites on her opponent to win 21-9 to move into the quarterfinals.

Earlier, Saina outlasted Singapore’s world number 21 Juan Gu in straight games 21-14, 23-21 in the opening round.

The Indian badminton, thus exacted sweet revenge on Juan, who showed her the championship exit door in the quarterfinals of the recently-held SGC Thailand Open in three games.

This was the Indian’s third win over Eriko in their six meetings so far. The Japanese girl last beat Saina at the 2011 Swiss Open.

Saina now meets world number 13 Lindaweni Fanetri of Indonesia in the last-eight stage.

The Indian had earlier accounted for India’s PC Thulasi in the first round.

Meanwhile, India’s campaign in the men’s singles came to an end after B Sai Praneeth lost to world number 12 Wei Feng Chong of Malaysia 21-11, 17-21, 21-16.

The 61^st ranked India came a cropper after outclassing second seed and world number 4 Yun Hu in straight games 21-9, 21-10 on Wednesday.

Earlier on Wednesday, India’s Parupalli Kashyap waged a grim battle before going down to Japan’s world number 16 Takuma Ueda in three games 18-21, 22-20, 21-15 in the first round.

K Srikanth – was shown the door by sixth seed and world number 9 Tien Minh Nguyen of Vietnam in three games 19-21, 21-16, 21-12 0-0.

RMV Gurusaidutt also bowed out in the first round to Malaysia’s world number 12 Wei Feng Chong in three games 15-21, 21-18, 21-9 12 .

38th ranked Anand Pawar lost to top-seed Du Pengyu of China 16-21, 13-21 in the opening round.

25th ranked Ajay Jayaram fought hard before caving in to fourth seed Kenichi Tago of Japan 19-21, 21-18, 17-21.

42nd ranked Sourabh Varma also went down to Hong Kong’s world number 14 Wing Ki Wong in straight games 17-21, 17-21.

PC Thulasi and Arundhati Panthawane also lost in their first round women singles matches.