Sameer stuns Asiad champ, Saina outguns Yamaguchi
DENMARK OPEN Indian shuttlers notch big wins to reach the quarterfinals
ODENSE (DENMARK): Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal defeated world number two Akane Yamaguchi of Japan for the first time in four years to enter the women’s singles quarter-finals of the $775,000 Denmark Open here on Thursday.
Later in the day, more good news was in store for India as Sameer Verma held his nerve to beat 2018 Asian Games gold medallist Jonatan Christie of Indonesia to reach the men’s singles quarter-finals.
The world number 23 Indian let go of three match points in the deciding game before pulling off a 23-21, 6-21, 22-20 victory in an hour and 10 minutes over the world number 13.
This was Sameer’s second victory in as many meetings against the Indonesian. Such was his prowess, that Sameer clinched the encounter despite winning only 51 of the 113 points played in the match with Jonatan winning 62.
Sameer will face the winner of the match between compatriot and seventh seed Kidambi Srikanth and two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan of China in the last eight stage.
SAINA PROVES A POINT
Saina, however, won her second round match rather convincingly.
The London Olympics bronze medallist registered an easy 21-15, 21-17 win over second seeded Yamaguchi.
The 28-year-old Indian will now take on former world champion, current world number seven and another Japanese, Nozomi Okuhara, in the quarterfinals on Friday.
This was Saina’s second career win over Yamaguchi in eight meetings.
However, the Hyderabadi’s previous victory against the Japanese came way back at the 2014 China Open.
Since them Yamaguchi managed to beat Nehwal six consecutive times.
This year too Yamaguchi beat Sai na twice — at the Uber Cup in May and the Malaysia Open in June.
POOR START
Saina trailed 0-4 initially but made a fine comeback to level the scores at 10-10.
But from there, Saina showed tremendous resolve and reeled off five straight points to take a 15-10 lead, then widening it to 19-12.
Yamaguchi recovered a bit but Saina grabbed five game points at 20-15 and then easily pocketed the first game.
In the second game, it was Saina’s turn to take the lead initially as she zoomed to 7-2 but Yamaguchi caught her up at 11-11.After that, it was a close tussle between the two as they were locked at 17-17.
At that stage, Saina cinched four points on the trot to win the second game and clinch the match. Nehwal won 42 of the 74 points played in the match.
ASHWINI-SIKKI WIN
It was a good day for India in women’s doubles as well with Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy upsetting seventh seeds from South Korea, Lee Ho See and Shin Seung Chan, 18-21, 22-20, 21-18 to enter the quarterfinals.The world number 27 doubles pair punched above their weight to defeat the world number seven duo in a close contest.
The Indian combine will next take on Japanese top seeds and Asian champions Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota in the last eight stage. Yuki and Sayaka have also reached the finals of the last two World Championships, finishing with two backto-back silver medals.