Saina reaches quarter-finals of Indonesia Open

QINGDAO, CHINA – APRIL 18: Kaori Imabeppu of Japan (R) plays a shot during her match against Saina Nehwal of India during day Two of the 2012 Badminton Asia Championships at Qingdao Guoxin Gymnasium on April 18, 2012 in Qingdao, China.

Jakarta – India’s Saina Nehwal overcame a spirited challenge from Aprilla Yuswandari of Indonesia to enter the women’s singles quarter-finals of the Indonesia Open Super Series badminton event here Thursday.

The World NO.5 got past her 46th-ranked opponent 21-17, 14-21, 21-13 in a second round match, lasting 59 minutes. The Indian next plays higher-ranked Chinese Shixian Wang, who beat Singapore’s Juan Gu 21-12, 21-11.

Saina, who won the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold event Sunday, will go into Friday’s match with confidence. She leads Shixian 2-1 in their head-to-head record and most recently beat the World No.4 in straight games to win the Swiss Open in March.

Another Indian, P.V. Sindhu takes on Germany’s Juliane Schenk later in the day.

Meanwhile, India’s highest-ranked men’s player Ajay Jayaram lost his second round match to Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka of Indonesia 15-21, 14-21.

Parupalli Kashyap will face top seed Chen Long of China later Thursday evening.