Bangkok: Secon seed Saina Nehwal and fifth seed B Sai Praneeth advanced to the semifinals of the $1,20,000 Thailand Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament with convincing victories here Friday.
Saina, ranked 11 in the world, defeated Japan’s Haruko Suzuki 21-15, 20-22, 21-11 in a women’s singles clash that lasted 69 minutes.
“Tough win today # Thailand GPG # quarterfinals ….. won in three sets….” Saina wrote on her twitter handle after the win. She will now face local player Busanan Ongbamrungphan for a place in the final.
Earlier in the day, Praneeth comfortably defeated Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen 21-16, 21-17 in the men’s singles quarterfinals here at the Nimibutr Stadium. The World No. 24 took 50 minutes to complete the task against his opponent.
Saina made her task difficult by committing a large number of unforced errors in the second game of her match. After winning the first game easily, she was leading 11-6 in the second. But in her haste to close out the match quickly, she hit quite a few shots wide of the tramlines and that allowed her rival to catch up with her at 18-all. The Japanese then held her nerves to win the second game after taking it to deuce.
In the third game, the Indian however, tightened up her game. She opened up a 9-5 lead and then onwards controlled the pace of the game to win it and with it the match.
Agencies
