Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal advanced to the quarter-finals of the Indonesia Super Series Premier tournament with a comfortable straight-game win over local favourite Fitriani Fitriani in the women's singles event in Jakarta on Thursday.
The eighth-seeded Indian, a three-time champion in Jakarta, recorded a 21-11, 21-10 win over Fitriani in a second round contest that lasted 32 minutes.
She will either face world number one Carolina Marin or Akane Yamaguchi for a spot in the semi-finals.
Saina is looking for her maiden title of the season after a slew of semifinal finishes earlier this year.
The World No 8 failed to breach the last-four stage in the Swiss Grand Prix Gold, India Super Series, Malaysia Super Series Premier Open and Asia Badminton Championships.
Saina, who had beaten Fitriani at the Badminton Asia Championships in April this year, dished out a dominating game which left the Indonesian clueless.
In the opening game, Saina moved to a 9-7 lead and then raced to 14-7 with six consecutive points. The Indian kept marching ahead and soon pocketed the game.
In the second game, Saina came out all cylinders blazing as she zoomed to a 10-3 lead and then continued her rampaging run even as Fitriani's game crumbled.
Earlier, the Indian challenge in the women's doubles and men's doubles came to an end after Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, and Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy lost their respective second round games.
While Jwala-Ashwini lost 9-21, 18-21 to Chinese combo of Huang Yaqiong and Tang Jinhua in the women's doubles, World No. 20 Manu and Sumeeth went down 18-21, 13-21 to sixth seeded Korean duo Ko Sung Hyun and Shin Baek Cheol.
Image: Saina Nehwal
Photograph: Christopher Lee/Getty Images for Falcon
