In the first game, it was all one-way traffic. Sayaka Sato won the first point of the game and continued her dominance from there on by keeping the two-time champion at bay to clinch the game 21-13. However, the second game turned out to be a much closer affair with the Indian coming back strongly by matching the Japanese shuttler point for point. After exchanging leads till the break, Saina finally took the game by the scruff of the neck and won five points in a row to take a 17-10 lead. The seven-point lead was enough to get her the game as the World championship silver medallist levelled things up in the match by winning the second game 21-15.

In the third and final game, Saina continued the momentum she obtained in the second game and was leading 8-6 before the Japanese shuttler won four points in a row. Following the footsteps of her rival, the Indian won three successive points to go into the break with an 11-10 lead. After the break, it was all one-way traffic with Saina winning six points in a row to leave her opponent on the sidelines. Sayaka Sato was nowhere in the game and surrendered the game and the match to the 26-year old Indian 14-21.

In the men’s singles, H S Prannoy continued his impressive run in the tournament after defeating sixteenth-seed Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk 21-18, 22-24, 21-9 to enter the semi-final. Prannoy, who stunned sixth-seed Rajiv Ouseph in the pre-quarter-final yesterday, started the match poorly by trailing the Thai shuttler 2-7 in the first game. The Indian bounced back by claiming six points in a row and took the momentum away from Tanongsak to lead the game from there on before taking it 21-18. In the second game, the Kerala lad had the golden opportunity to finish the game at 21-20 after the Thai shuttler made a spirited comeback. Prannoy wasted the opportunity, and Tanongsak took the lead at 22-21. Although Prannoy levelled it with a point, the sixteenth-seed took the second game 24-22 to make it 1-1 in the match.