Malaysia Open: Saina, Sindhu storm into quarters

Malaysia Open: Saina, Sindhu storm into quarters

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Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu entered the quarter-final of the Malaysia Open in Shah Alam on Thursday after registering comfortable victories in the second round. Third-seed Saina Nehwal defeated Bae Yeon Ju of Korea, while Sindhu went past seventh seed Sung Ji Hyun also of Korea in straight games.

Although she slipped two places to eighth in the latest BWF rankings released today, there was no slipping up on the court for Saina Nehwal as she entered the fourth quarter-final in a row after making it to the last-eight in the All England Championship, Swiss Open GPG, and India Open. South Korea’s Bae Yeon Ju, who defeated P V Sindhu in the India Open quarter-final last week, found a superior opponent in the second round and proved to be no match for the 2012 Olympics bronze medallist.

Saina, who led the head-to-head record 8-4 before the match, made it 9-4 in a one-sided game, which lasted just 32 minutes. The 26-year old Indian led from the start and finished the first game 21-10 without breaking a sweat. The second game proved to be a much-closeraffairthough, after the Korean put in a spirited effort to match the Indian point for point at least initially in the encounter. Saina, finally took the game 21-16 and made her way to the quarters to face Porntip Buranaprasertsuk of Thailand.

P V Sindhu also entered the quarters after a straight-games victory over seventh seed Sung Ji Hyun. Sindhu, who had a 4-3 head-to-head record going into the match, found it tough initially against the World No.7 in a tight first game. Both players matched each other shot for shot and point for point, but Sindhu jumped ahead of the Korean by winning two points when the game was at 18-18. Although the World No.10 squandered two game points to allow Sung Ji Hyun to level things once again, two more points in a row helped the Indian take the first game 22-20.

The second game had a similar story as the first with both players once again exchanging leads after every point. With the game at 15-15, Sindhu won five consecutive points and went into a 20-15 lead. Although the World No.7 saved two match points, the Indian took the third one to enter the quarter-final. Sindhu will have a tough quarter-final match on her hands, when she faces fourth-seed and India Open champion Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand in the quarter-final.  

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