Korea Open 2018: Saina Nehwal eases into the quarter finals 

India's star player Saina Nehwal progressed into the quarterfinals of the Super 500 tournament played at SK Olympic Handball Gymnasium, Seoul on Thursday. It was a good performance by Saina who won her match in two straight games.

Saina took on Korean qualifier Kim G E and defeated her in two straight games. It was a perfect start by the Indian who took a commanding 10-2 lead. The Korean Kim came back strongly but the Indian took a 11-8 lead at the interval. After the interval, Saina played aggressively, taking a 16-10 lead but the Korean fought back strongly to take six points in succession to level the scores at 18-18. The Indian held her nerve and won the first set 21-18.

In the second game, the Korean had a terrific start, taking an 8-1 lead. Saina showed her experience and reduced the gap to 10-13 in favor of the Korean. The Indian took 7 points in succession to take a 17-13 lead. The Korean qualifier tried her best to come back into the game but Saina ensured that she won the match 21-18 and progressed into the quarterfinals.

Saina was knocked out in the first round of China Open 2018 by Sung. She has had a great year so far though, winning the gold medal in Commonwealth Games played at Gold Coast in April and also the first ever bronze medal in Asian Games, played at Jakarta.

She will face Nozomi Okuhara in the quarterfinals tomorrow. Saina has a 6-3 lead in the head to head results but has lost her last two matches against Okuhara. It will be interesting to see if Saina can continue her good form or if the Japanese can make it three in a row.