Australian Open Super Series: Saina Nehwal, K Srikanth ease into quarter-finals

Sydney, Australia: Rio-bound Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and K Srikanth registered straight-game wins to reach the quarter-finals of the women’s and men’s singles events respectively at the USD 750,000 Australian Open Super Series badminton tournament in Sydney on Thursday. London Olympics bronze-medallist, Saina outclassed Malaysia’s Jin Wei Goh 21-12 21-14 in a 37-minute clash to set up a quarterfinal battle with 2013 world champion and second seed Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand. In men’s singles, Srikanth, who had taken a break for a month to train after a hectic April, defeated Indonesia’s Sony Dwi Kuncoro 21-19 21-12 in 34 minutes. The World No. 13 will next face Korean qualifier Kwang Hee Heo on Friday. [caption id=“attachment_2394492” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of Saina Nehwal. AFP[/caption] However, it was curtains for young Tanvi Lad and Sameer Verma after they suffered contrasting defeats in the pre-quarters Thursday. Runners-up at National Championships, Tanvi Lad went down 18-21 6-21 to fourth seed Chinese Wang Yihan, while national champion Sameer played his heart out before going down 21-11 7-21 19-21 to Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia. Saina was lagging initially when Jin took a 4-1 lead and held on to it till 9-7. The Indian then reeled off six points to reach 13-9 and then just zoomed ahead to pocket the first game. In the second game, Saina led 5-2 early on but Jin tried to grab the lead and put up a tough fight before the Indian broke off 9-9 to gradually march ahead. In the end, she comfortably closed the issue. Saina has a 6-5 head-to-head record against Ratchanok but the Indian has lost to the Thai girl twice in straight games in the last two meetings. Srikanth, who had faced a series of first-round losses in the last few tournaments since wining the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold in January, fought back from 4-6 and 13-15 to grab the opening game against Sony. In the second game, Srikanth was more clinical as he surged ahead after 3-3 and never looked back.