China Open: Sindhu in quarters; Saina loses
FUZHOU: Defending champion PV Sindhu sailed into the quarterfinals but newly-crowned National champions Saina Nehwal and H S Prannoy crashed out of the China Open Super Series Premier.
World No. 2 Sindhu emerged as the lone Indian survivor at the event after she made quick work of China’s Han Yue 21-15, 21-13, an opponent ranked at 104 in BWF ranking.
Olympic silver medallist Sindhu will clash with another Chinese qualifier Gao Fangjie on Friday. It turned out to be a dismal day for Saina and Prannoy, who had clinched the National championship titles at Nagpur earlier this month.
While Saina lost 18-21, 11-21 against her Japanese nemesis and fifth seed Akane Yamaguchi in the second round, world no. 11 Prannoy was stunned by 53rd ranked Cheuk Yiu Lee of Hong Kong 21-19, 21-17.
For Saina, the match against Yamaguchi was always expected to be a tricky one considering her inferior head-to-head record against the Japanese.
Before the start of today’s match, Saina trailed Yamaguchi one to three in head-to-head record with their three previous results going in the Japanese favour and the trend continued.
Saina, thus, suffered her fourth defeat -- three of them in last one month -- against Yamaguchi this year.
The London Olympic bronzemedallist, who won the title here in 2014, got off to a good start, taking a slender 11-9 lead but Yamaguchi fought back to pocket the first game 21-18.
Down by a game, Saina’s game started to deteriorate. She lacked momentum in the second game and never looked in the mental frame to make a comeback, even as Yamaguchi comfortably took control of the proceedings.
The Japanese never looked in trouble after taking the first game and did not fall behind for a single moment in the second as she sealed the match with consummate ease in just 37 minutes.
Later in the day, world no 11 Prannoy went down fighting to less-fancied Lee in a second round clash that lasted 42 minutes. The encounter started with both Prannoy and Lee exchanging quick early points before the Hong Kong shuttler raced to a two-point lead.
Prannoy tried to stage a comeback but Lee took an 11-9 lead at the interval. After the break, Prannoy tried hard to shift the momentum but never really managed to achieve that.