Kowloon: Shuttlers PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal remained on course for a mouth-watering semifinal encounter by winning their respective pre-quarterfinals here Thursday at the Hong Kong Open Super Series tournament.
Sindhu trounced Chinese Taipei’s Hsu Ya Ching 21-10, 21-14 in her women’s singles match while Saina dished out a gruelling performance against Japan’s Sayaka Sato to edge prevail 21-18, 9-21, 21-16. Sindhu will next take on Singapore’s Xiaoyu Liang, while fifth seed Saina, who is on her comeback trail after recovering from a serious knee injury, will meet Hong Kong’s Cheung Ngan Yi.
In the men’s singles, Ajay Jayaram beat China’s Huang Yuxiang 21-18, 21-19, while national champion Sameer Verma eked out a 19-21, 21-15, 21-11 win over Japan’s Kazumasa Sakai in another match.
However, it turned out to be a disappointing day for HS Prannoy, who suffered a 21-15, 11-21, 15-21 loss against Malaysia’s Chong Wei Feng.
Meanwhile Saina stated that she is slowly regaining her match fitness. “I have been out of competition for more than three months, so I will definitely take some time to regain form. Things are falling into place, however,” she stated.
PTI
