As it happened - Saina Nehwal vs Soniia Cheah, Australian Open 2017 Second Round

And that wraps up our live coverage for today. Tomorrow promises to be yet another thrilling day for Indian badminton and we'll be back tomorrow with the coverage.

Till then, keep following Sportskeeda for all updates on Indian badminton.

Goodbye!

What a day it is for the Indian contingent at the Australian Open 2017. Four Indians - Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, Sai Praneeth and Srikanth Kidambi - have made it to the quarter-finals!

What a finish that was! Full credit to Soniia Cheah for making it such a lively match after a pretty one-sided opening by the Indian.

And with that, Nehwal now moves on to the quarter-finals.

Final score: 21-15, 20-22, 21-14 win for Saina Nehwal

SAINA NEHWAL WINS!!!!!!!

And again Cheah saves for 14-20

Match Point No.2 for Nehwal....20-13

Nehwal has vroomed to 19-13 now

18-12

Again Saina takes control....17-12

And 12-16 now

Cheah does INDEED come back after all....she trails 11-16

16-8 for Nehwal

Looks like Cheah has finally run out of steam or will there be a last minute fightback?

And Saina makes it 15-8

It's a SIX-POINT LEAD for Nehwal....14-8

13-8 for Saina after the break

And 11-7 for the Indian at the break

It's 10-7 for the Indian

Just as she was getting closer, Saina breaks away to 9-7

Soniia is breathing down Saina's neck! 7-8

Now 3 points in a row....6-7

This match is such a mystery! New things are unfolding every moment! Soniia grabs 2 points again! 5-7

Saina has put the brake on her opponent's comeback....the Indian up 6-3

Cheah has some spirit and guts....now 3 points on the trot for the Malaysian! 3-4

Saina is not ready to give any chance! Up 4-0

THIRD GAME

Saina races to 2-0

And Cheah converts....22-20.....we are one game all!!

Game Point for Cheah at 21-20

A gutsy Cheah saves match point for 20-20

MATCH POINT FOR SAINA....20-19

It will be a match point or game point now! Who will get it?

And to noone's surprise....it is 19-19

18-18 it is....such a gritty fight this is!

Nehwal grabs 2 points on the trot for 18-17

Only to see Saina come back for 17-17

An undeterred Cheah once more jumps to 17-16 lead

Saina shuts down all those thoughts quickly....15-15

Shall we see a third game?

And Cheah leaps to 15-13

What resilience from the World No. 26...her persistence has paid off...she now ,leads 14-13

Soniia is not giving up....she storms back to 12-12

Saina is still ahead at 12-10

At half-time, Saina leads 11-9

Now Saina slowly asserting herself again....it's 10-8 for the two-time champion

FOUR POINTS ON THE TROT for Saina....9-7

Saina ERASES THE DEFICIT.....it's 7-7

The pace of the match has slowed down now.....and it has become tighter....Soniia up 6-5

It's 4-4

Cheah comes back to make it 3-3