Press Trust of India
Shah Alam, April 7: Shuttlers Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu maintained their winning run at the Malaysia Open, notching up contrasting victories to reach the quarterfinals of the women’s singles at the $550,000 Super Series Premier tournament here Thursday.
After Sindhu edged out Korea’s Sung Ji Hyun, seeded seventh, 22-20, 21-17 in a 47-minute clash, Saina brushed aside another Korean Bae Yeon Ju 21-10, 21-16 in a match that lasted a little over half an hour.
Sindhu had lost to Sung Ji at Hyderabad during the Asian Badminton Championship team event but avenged the loss Thursday and took her head-to-head record against the Korean to 5-3.
The 20-year-old from Hyderabad will next meet former World Champion and two-time India Open winner Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand, while Saina set up a meeting with Thailand’s Porntip Buranaprasertsuk, who stunned All England champion Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara, seeded eighth, 21-12 22-20.
Saina, seeded third here, stamped her authority on the second round clash against Bae as she reached a 11-3 lead at the interval in both the games and didn’t give much chance to her opponent to make a comeback. She has now beaten the Korean nine times in 13 meetings.
Sindhu almost blew away a 9-6 and 20-18 lead in the opening game before managing to surpass Sung Ji and earn the bragging rights.