Saina stuns Bing Jiao to join Sindhu, Prannoy in QFs of Singapore Open

It will be Saina’s first appearance in QFs of a Super 500 event in over 2.5 years

SINGAPORE: Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal showed signs of regaining her form with a sensational win over Chinese world number 9 He Bing Jiao in the Singapore Open here on Thursday.

The two-time Commonwealth Games gold winner joined compatriots PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy in the quarterfinals of the tournament.

Saina, a London Olympics bronze medallist, prevailed 21-19, 11-21, 21-17 over the fifth seeded Chinese to make the last eight stage. It will be her first appearance in quarterfinals of a Super 500 event in over two and a half years.

She will meet Japan's Aya Ohori next.

The 32-year-old from Hyderabad has been battling a series of injuries and lack of form in the past few years, which forced her to skip the selection trials for the Commonwealth Games, in April.

In the last three years, Saina's best performance had been a semifinal finish at Orleans Master Super 100 last year. She had also reached the quarterfinal stage at Malaysia Masters and Barcelona Spain Masters in 2020.

Two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu and in-form Prannoy also stormed into the quarterfinals after registering fighting wins.

Third seed Sindhu staved off a spirited challenge from Vietnam's world number 59 Thuy Linh Nguyen 19-21, 21-19, 21-18 in the women's singles competition to set up a clash with China's Han Yue.

Prannoy, ranked world number 19, notched up his second win in three weeks over world number four and third seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei 14-21, 22-20, 21-18 in an hour and nine minute contest. The 29-year-old Indian, who is looking to break his fiveyear-old title drought, will face Japan's Kodai Naraoka next.

The men's doubles pairing of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila also entered the quarters, with a stunning 18-21, 24-22, 21-18 win over sixth seeded Malaysian combination of Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin. A day after notching up an unset win over compatriot Kidambi Srikanth, Mithun Manjunath's run ended with a fighting 10-21, 21-18, 16-21 loss to Ireland's Nhat Nguyen.

Ashmita Chaliha, who had defeated Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan, also couldn't proceed further in the tournament, losing 9-21, 13-21 to Han Yue of China.