Saina strolls, Sai sweats on way to pre-quarters
GLASGOW: Saina Nehwal led the charge as Indian juggernaut continued to roll at the World Championships with BS ai Pranee th and Kidambi Srikanth entering the pre-quarterfinals of singles events, on Wednesday.
After Saina brushed aside the challenge of Sabrina Jaquet in straight games and P ranee th survived as care from Anthony Sinisuka Gin ting, Srikanths team-rolled France’ s Lucas Corvee to keep India in the hunt for a medal.
London Olympics bronze medallist 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 in the match,” 12th seed Saina said after the match.
Saina will next take on second seed Sung JiHyun, who defeated India’s Tanvi Lad 21-9, 21-19. The 2010 Commonwealth Games champion has a7 -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 gamed own to out wit World No .26 Indonesian Anthony 14-21, 21-18, 21-19 that lasted an hour and 12 minutes.
“It was a tough match. The shuttles were really slow and so the rallies went longer. I was getting caught initially and he was playing fast. I could not match him initially but slowly adjusted to his speed. He is a tough player and his game has improved a lot since I last played him.
“I am really happy to win and now I am focused on my next match,” added the World No. 19 Praneeth will takeo neither Germany’ s Marc Zwiebler or Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen on Thursday.
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 S aina reeled off five straight points and eventually wrapped the opening game in 14 minutes. In the second game, Saina once again opened upa 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.
On the adjacent court, Praneeth was facing the fire of Anthony, who cruised to a 8-0 lead and then jumped to a 16-6 advantage. The gap was too much for Praneeth to bridge as he lost the first game.
The Indian 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. Leading 14-12, Praneeth had to take a medical timeout and when the game resumed, Anthony managed to grab a slender 16-15 lead but the Indian did not let the opportunity slip as he soon turned the tables on his rival.