Defending champion Saina Nehwal advanced to the quarter-finals of the Indonesian Open Super Series after registering a straight-game victory over Petya Nedelcheva in the second round in Jakarta on Thursday. The fourth seeded Indian needed just 31 minutes to dispose off Petya, winning 21-18, 21-9.
Indian ace Saina Nehwal survived a mighty scare from unheralded Ayane Kurihara of Japan before advancing to the quarter-finals of China Masters Super Series badminton tournament in Changzhou on Thursday. The fifth seed Indian won 21-11, 18-21, 27-25 in a marathon women's singles encounter that lasted 72 minutes, at the Xincheng Gymnasium.
Saina Nehwal got the better of Jiayuan Chen of Singapore 21-16, 21-12 to enter the second round of the women's singles in the Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold, at Alor Setar, on Wednesday.
India's men singles shuttler B Sai Praneeth alongwith two other doubles pairs advanced to the semi-finals of the $120,000 US Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament.
Returning to action after nearly two months, Saina, who made last-minute withdrawals from Indonesia Open and last week's Japan Open because of injuries, got past Chaiwan 21-17, 21-19 in her opening round contest.