Kuala Lumpur: Saina Nehwal scripted a hard-fought straight-game win over former World Champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan to enter the women’s singles semifinals but a fighting Kidambi Srikanth crashed out of the USD 3,50,000 Malaysia Masters badminton tournament here Friday.
Seventh-seeded Saina fought back from 9-15 and 14-18 down in the two games to extend her dominance over the second-seeded Japanese with a 21-18, 23-21 win in a 48-minute quarterfinal at the Axiata Arena.
“Again a great match with @nozomi_o11 .. nice to b on the winning side ..21-18 , 23-21 #quarterfinals #malaysiamasterssuper500,” tweeted Saina after the match.
The 28-year-old from Hyderabad, who had won the title in 2017 and was a runner-up in the 2011 edition, will face a tough test next when she faces three-time World Champion Carolina Marin of Spain, Saturday.
However, Srikanth squandered a one-game advantage to go down 23-21, 16-21, 17-21 to fourth seed Korean Son Wan Ho in the men’s singles quarterfinals that lasted 72 minutes.
PTI
