SAINA, SINDHU IN CRUISE MODE, ENTER QUARTERS

JAKARTA : Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu stormed i nto the women’s singles quarter-finals after notching wins in straight games at the Asian Games here on Saturday. Saina, bronze medallist at the 2012 London Olympics, routed Fitriani of Indonesia 21-6, 21-14 in just 33 minutes, while Sindhu got the better off another local challenger, Tunjung Gregoria Mariska, winning 21-12, 21-15 in 34 minutes.

Despite a partisan crowd egging on home girl Fitriani, Saina raced to a convincing 11-5 lead at the break, before capturing the next 10 points with ease. Saina found world No 40 Fitriani in a different mode at the start of the second game and had to sweat to stage a comeback, managing to level 9-9 after trailing 4-8.

Back-to-back points at this juncture helped Saina breathe easy before stretching her lead to 15-11. There was no looking back after that as Saina conceded only five points before pocketing the game and match.

FLYING START

Sindhu, world No 3 and Rio Olympics silver medallist, too got off to a flying start against Tunjung, taking a 10-8 lead first, then 17-11, before finishing the game at 12 in just 14 minutes. Things didn’t change much for Tunjung in the next game as Sindhu stretched her lead to 18-15 before capturing the next three points in a row.

“Crowd pressure is always here when you play against hosts. Now, I am getting used to it as I have played many big events here earlier,” said Saina after her win.

“Conditions were different with a strong drift in the air, but I remained focussed on my gameplan. I continued hitting long rallies and my rhythm was really good today.

Saina expressed surprise at the early exit of top men shuttlers like K Srikanth and HS Prannoy on Friday. “I wasn’t expecting it as Srikanth likes to play fast,” she remarked.