Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal notched up a 21-8, 18-21, 21-16 victory over Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand to reach the pre-quarterfinals of the Yonex All England Open badminton championships here on Wednesday.
There was further cheer for India in singles with P. Kashyap, P.V. Sindhu and Sourabh Verma advancing in contrasting styles.
Kashyap dismissed Chinese Taipei’s Hsu Jen Hao 21-17, 21-18, Sindhu beat Thailand’s Busanan Ombungrumpan 21-13, 21-16 and Sourabh rallied to best Indonesia’s Dionysius Rumbaka 10-21, 21-14, 24-22.
In mixed doubles, V. Diju and Jwala Gutta advanced at the expense of Germany’s Peter Kaesbauer and Isabel Herttrich, winning 21-9, 21-17. However, Tarun Kona and Ashwini Ponnappa lost 21-18, 21-10 to Fran Kuyrniawan and Shendy Puspa Irawati in 24 minutes. Akshay Dewalkar and Pradnya Gadre too failed to cross the first hurdle, losing 21-8, 21-13 to Malaysian pair of Jian Guo Ong and Yin Loo Lim in another match.
Saina was off the block in style, reaching away to a 7-2 lead first up and went into the breather at 11-2. The Indian, who will turn 23 later this month, kept her rival under pressure all through out the game and held on to her lead to eventually pocket it comfortably at 21-8 in 11 minutes.
The second game started off on an even knell as both were locked 4-4 initially but Sapsiree soon stepped on the gas and nosed ahead, leading 11-7 midway. After the break, sapsiree kept her pressure intact and slowly went to 19-16. Saina tried to gain parity and pulled back a couple of points but the Thai didn’t allow the game to slip out of her hand and reeled off two points to bounce back into the contest.
In the decider, Sapsiree lead 5-4 early on but Saina slowly started dominating again and notched up a few straight points to lead 17-13. The Thai found it hard to narrow the gap as Saina sealed the issue quite comfortably in the end.
The results:
Men's singles: Second round: Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk (Tha) bt Sho Sasaki (Jpn) 21-9, 21-11; 5-Chen Jin (Chn) bt Chen Yuekun (Chn) 21-10, 21-10.
First round: Sourabh Verma (Ind) bt Dionysius Rumbaka (Ina) 10-21, 21-14, 24-22; Wang Zhengming (Chn) bt Ajay Sayaram (Ind) 15-21, 21-18, 21-10; 1-Lee Ching Wei (Mas) bt Wong Wing Ki (HK) 13-21, 21-6, 23-21; 5-Chen Jin (Chn) bt Daren Liew (Mas) 21-15, 19-21, 21-11; Parupalli Kashyap (Ind) bt Hsu Jen Hao (Tpe) 21-17, 21-18; Takuma Ueda (Jpn) bt Marc Zwiebler (Ger) 18-21, 21-13, 21-19; 4-Sony Dwi Kuncoro (Ina) bt Vladimir Ivanov (Rus) 20-22, 21-17, 21-11.
Women's singles: Second round: 8-Ratchanok Intanon (Tha) bt Nichaon Jindapon (Tha) 21-18, 21-17; Sung Ji-Hyun (Kor) bt Pai Hsiao Ma (Tpe) 21-12, 21-10.
First round: Lindaweni Fanetri (Ina) bt 3-Wang Yihan (Chn) 21-12, 21-19; Porntip Buranaprasertsuk (Tha) bt Gu Juan (Sin) 25-23, 21-18; 7-Tine Baun (Den) bt Sashina Vignes Waran (Fra) 21-12, 21-19; 2-Saina Nehwal (Ind) bt Sapsiree Taerattanachai (Tha) 21-8, 18-21, 21-16; Han Li (Chn) bt Yip Pui Yin (HK) 21-12, 21-9; Nichaon Jindapon (Tha) bt Adrianti Firdasari (Ina) 21-13, 21-19.
P.V. Sindhu (Ind) bt Busanan Ombungrumpan (Tha) 21-13, 21-16; Ratchanok Intanon bt Tai Tzu Ying (Tpe) 21-18, 21-13; 4-Juliane Schenk (Ger) bt Aprilla Yuswandari (Ina) 21-19, 21-17; Belaetrix Manuputi (Ina) bt Minatsu Mitani (Jpn) 21-14, 21-8; 6-Wang Shixian (Chn) bt Carolina Marin (Esp) 16-21, 21-19, 21-18; Jiang Yanjiao (Chn) bt Sayaka Takahashi (Jpn) 18-21, 21-19, 21-18.
Mixed doubles: First round: V. Diju & Jwala Gutta (Ind) bt Peter Kaesbauer & Isabel Herttrich (Ger) 21-9, 21-17; Fran Kuyrniawan & Shendy Puspa Irawati (Ina) bt Tarun Kona & Ashwini Ponnappa (Ind) 21-18, 21-10; Jian Guo Ong & Yin Loo Lim (Mas) bt Akshay Dewalkar & Pradnya Gadre (Ind) 21-8, 21-13.
