Malaysia Masters | Saina Nehwal qualifies for semi-finals as Kidambi Srikanth gets eliminated in quarter-final

Saina Nehwal managed to get the better of Japan’s Okuhara 21-18, 23-21 to book a place in the semi-finals of the women’s singles event where she will meet Spain’s Carolina Marin. Former world champion Okuhara was leading by 11-9 in the first game at the break and at one point of time, she had a six-point lead with 15-9 on the board.

However, Nehwal made a brilliant comeback as Okuhara managed to secure only three points while the Indian took the first game away. The competitive second game also went in Nehwal’s favour as the 28-year-old Indian took that away by 23-21 to make it to the semi-finals of Malaysia Masters.

In the men’s singles quarter-final, Srikanth lost 23-21, 16-21, 17-21 to Wan Ho in a closely-fought match in the tournament. Srikanth came back well in the first game after trailing by 11-5 points in the first mid-game break. The Indian didn’t allow the South Korean to continue his dominance after that in the first game and managed to take it by 23-21 points.

However, Wan Ho made an exciting comeback in the next two games to win the match and qualify for the semi-final of the championship. The South Korean managed to win the second and third game by 21-16, 21-17 respectively.