Press Trust of India
Basel, March 19: Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and HS Prannoy registered fighting victories in the last eight contests of women’s and men’s singles events respectively to reach the semifinals of the USD 120,000 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament here.
Two-time champion, Saina took another step towards the Swiss Open crown after ekeing out a 13-21, 21-15, 21-14 win over Japan’s Sayaka Sato, seeded seventh, in a 52-minute contest to take her overall head-to-head record to 5-1.
The Olympic bronze medallist will next take on her fierce rival Wang Yihan, seeded third. Overall Saina trails Yihan 4-9 but the top seeded Indian will take confidence from her three wins against the Chinese in 2015.
“Nothing comes easy,” Saina stated after her match late Friday evening here. ‘But so far so good. I have been playing with rhythm and today’s match will definitely increase my confidence for battles ahead. Yes, I am expecting a tough semifinal, but I am also in a positive mood.”
In the men’s singles, 13th seed Prannoy took almost an hour to get across 16th seed Thailand’s Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk 21-18, 22-24, 21-9. He will next face Tzu Wei Wang of Chinese Taipei. Prannoy had lost to Tzu Wei in 2014 Austrian International Challenge. So he will certainly look to exact revenge.
