Glasgow: Saina Nehwal led the charge as Indian juggernaut continued to roll at the Badminton World Championships with Kidambi Srikanth and B Sai Praneeth entering the pre-quarterfinals of singles, here Wednesday.
After Saina brushed aside the challenge of Sabrina Jaquet in straight games and Praneeth survived a scare from Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, Srikanth steamrolled France’s Lucas Corvee to keep India in the hunt for a medal.
Saina hardly broke a sweat as she cruised past her Swiss rival 21-11, 21-12 in just 33 minutes. “It was a tricky match I felt. Sabrina is a formidable opponent but I am happy that I overpowered her nicely,” 12th seed Saina said after her win.
“I think it is always tough to play first round but once you get used to the conditions, it gets better and better,” Saina added.
Saina will next take on second seed Sung Ji Hyun, who defeated India’s Tanvi Lad 21-9, 21-19. The 2010 Commonwealth Games champion has a 7-2 head-to-head record against the Korean and most recently she beat her at the Australian Open in June.
World No. 8 Srikanth also dished out a clinical performance, beating Lucas 21-9, 21-17 to set up a clash with 14th seed Anders Antonsen of Denmark.
Earlier, Singapore Open champion B Sai Praneeth bounced back from a game down to outwit World No. 26 Indonesian Anthony 14-21, 21-18, 21-19 that lasted 72 minutes.
“It was a very tough match. The shuttles were really slow and so the rallies went longer. I was getting caught initially and he was playing very fast. I could not match him early on but slowly adjusted to his speed. He is a tough player and his game has improved a lot since I last played him,” said World No. 19, Praneeth.
A silver medallist at Jakarta edition in 2015, Saina, who received a bye in the opening round, stamped her authority right from the start as she zoomed to a 4-0 lead before making it 11-6.
The Swiss tried her bit and came as close as 9-13 before Saina reeled off five straight points and eventually wrapped the opening game in 14 minutes.
In the second game, Saina once again opened up a 5-2 lead and had a 11-7 advantage at the interval. The Indian did not take the foot off the pedal and dished out a series of body smashes to surge to victory.
After losing the first game, Praneeth got his bearing back and put up a better effort in the second game, reaching a 7-4 and 11-9 advantage at the break. He then held on to narrow leads in both the games to emerge victorious.
Srikanth on the other hand did not have much of a problem against Lucas hitting powerful body smashes to emerge an easy winner.
At a glance
Saina Nehwal bt Sabrina Jaquet 21-12, 21-13
B Sai Praneeth bt Anthony Ginting 14-21, 21-18, 21-19
Kidambi Srikanth bt Lucas Corvee 21-9, 21-17
Tanvi Lad lost to Sung Ji Hyun 9-21, 19-21
Press trust of India
