Badminton Asia Championships 2018, Women's Singles, Quarterfinal: Saina Nehwal vs Lee Jang Mi, Live Match Updates

Nehwal def Lee 21-15, 21-13 to enter the semi-finals

Updated: 27 April 2018 15:59 IST - Published: 27 April 2018 13:35 IST

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Saina needed a few minutes to settle into the match and read her opponent's shots. Once she managed to do it, it was just a walk in the park for the former World No. 1.

SAINA ENTERS THE SEMI-FINALS. SHE WILL MEET THE WINNER OF THE QUARTER-FINAL BETWEEN TAI TZU YING AND HE BINGJIAO.

SAINA NEHWAL WINS!!!!!

21-15, 21-13 IN 43 MINUTES!!!!

SEVEN MATCH POINTS FOR THE INDIAN!!!!!!

20-13

And it is 19-13 to the Indian now.

Saina is in sniffing distance of a victory here

Nehwal grabs a couple of points and extends her lead to 17-10 now

She needs just FOUR MORE POINTS TO GRAB THE WIN!

It's no more a one-sided contest as Lee is fighting hard for every point, but the Indian still has a healthy lead of five points.

15-10 to Nehwal

Saina stops her comeback in the tracks and races ahead to 14-8

That's some fightback from the Korean!

Lee adds two more points to close the gap further

8-12

Suddenly, a shift in momentum here as Lee finds a lot of courage to take three points on the trot!

6-12

It's pretty much a matter of time for Saina!

12-3 now

Saina stretches her lead to 12-2 now

It's a massive 11-2 lead for Nehwal going into the mid-game interval.

Lee now trails 1-10

Lee is finally on the board!!

1-9

Three more quick points go the Indian's way!!!!

She is up 8-0

What a start this has been to Game 2

And she adds yet another point to make it 5-0

It's 4-0 to the CWG gold medallist

Saina picks up from where she left.

Blazing start to Game 2 as she opens up a 3-0 lead.

It took Saina some time to figure out how to counter her opponent but once she did, she stamped her class!

First game goes to Saina Nehwal!

21-15

And Saina now has a host of game points!

20-15

Saina is now up by three points!

18-15

Showing her class and experience!

The determined Lee evened the score at 14-14 but Saina has broken away from the tie since then to build a 16-14 lead

FOUR POINTS IN A ROW FOR THE FORMER BRONZE MEDALLIST AS SHE SNATCHES THE LEAD TO GO UP TO 14-13

AND SAINA STORMS BACK INTO THIS GAME!!!!!

13-13

No change in the gap.

Lee up 13-10 over Saina

It's still a three-point advantage for the Korean shuttler as she leads 12-9

No signs of any nervousness as of now

Saina pulls back one point on resumption and now trails 8-11

But Lee is again in the driver's seat as she takes hold of three fast points and goes up to 11-7 at the mid-game interval.

Two more points go the Indian's way and she is now behind by just one point at 7-8

And, Saina pulls back a couple of points and makes the gap 5-8

Saina is having some trouble reading the Korean now. It is understandable given this is their first meeting.

And she keeps peppering the court with her attacking shots. With two quick points, she builds an 8-3 lead.

It's 6-3 to the Korean currently, who is looking in control of the early proceedings

Once more Lee looking a bit comfortable and takes a 5-3 lead

And the CWG champion levels it pretty soon!

3-3

Lee is now up to 3-1

Saina is on the board but she trails 1-2

First point to Jang

Good afternoon! The match is about to begin

The 38th edition of the Asia Badminton Championships is currently underway in China. The tournament, which is taking place at the Wuhan Sports Centre Gymnasium, will pay out a total prize money of 350,000 dollars and will award the participants with valuable points for their respective BWF rankings.

India's Saina Nehwal will play her quarterfinal match against South Korean Lee Jang-Mi.

Saina Nehwal has reached the quarterfinal if the Asia Badminton Championship without dropping a game so far in the competition. Nehwal beat Singapore's Yeo Jia Min in the first round by a score of 21-12, 21-9. She then went on to beat China's Gao Fangjie 21-18, 21-8.

Lee Jang-Mi didn't reach the quarters as easily as Saina. Both her matches took three games to conclude. Lee beat fourth-seed Ratchanok Intanon in the second round.

Nehwal will look to build on her CWG Gold medal by claiming the top prize here as well. But before that, she will have to beat an in-form Lee Jang-Mi.