World No 3 Saina Nehwal reached the women's singles quarter-finals of the All England Open Badminton Championships after beating Indonesia's Belaetrix Manuputi in straight games here at The National Indoor Arena on Thursday.
However, it was curtains for rising shuttler PV Sindhu and mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju, who lost their second round matches in their respective categories in the Super Series Premier tournament.
ADVERTISEMENT
Saina Nehwal. Pic/Getty Images.
Saina destroyed her opponent 21-16, 21-11 in 34 minutes in the second round in their first ever career meeting. The second seed next faces sixth seed and old nemesis Shixian Wang of China against whom the Indian has a 3-1 head-to-head.
After a tough first round against Thai Sapsiree Taerattanachai, Saina had it easy against the Indonesian. She dominated the match with her traditional smashes as Belaetrix proved no match for the Olympic medallist. Saina had 13 smash winners to the World No 42 Manuputi’s four.
In the first game, the Indian led from the start but really took off from 13-all, clinching the game in the next few minutes. Saina dominated her opponent making her run all around the court in the second game. The Hyderabadi took flight right from the start taking a 12-2 lead, from where she never looked back.
Sindhu knocked out
Meanwhile, the 17-year-old Sindhu went down to German fourth seed Juliane Schenk in another women’s singles clash losing 17-21, 14-21 in 39 minutes on Court No 2.u00a0This was Sindhu’s second straight loss to Juliane after losing to the World No 4 in the second round of the Indonesia Open last year.
Jwala-Diju exit
Jwala and Diju also lost their mixed doubles match to Polish eighth seeds Robert Mateusiak and Nadiezda Zieba 17-21, 16-21 in 30 minutes, bringing an end to India’s doubles campaign here.
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
