On a day when Saina Nehwal lost 3150 ranking points but still held on to her world No 2 ranking, the Indian had a smooth sail into the quarterfinals of the Indonesia Open Super Series Premier in Jakarta.
The defending champion took 39 minutes to put it across Japan’s Sayaka Takahashi 21-13 21-19 in the women’s singles second round, winning about 70 per cent of her points through smashes. Saina will face Spain’s 27th ranked Carolina Marin in the last eight round on Friday.
Also advancing to the quarters were RMV Gurusaidutt and Ajay Jayaram, both of whom moved up in the rankings to 23rd and 25th, respectively, during the day.
Gurusaidutt defeated qualifier Kazumasa Sakai of Japan 21-12 9-21 21-19 while Jayaram upset fourth seed and world No. 7 Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia 22-20 21-12. Jayaram will face Marc Zwiebler of Germany while Gurusaidutt will meet Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto in last eight.
However, it was curtains for B Sai Praneeth, who had stunned former Olympic and World champion Taufik Hidayat on Thursday. Praneeth lost to world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia 18-21 12-21 in the second round.
Though Saina began on a wrong foot against Takahashi, losing early points by sending the shuttle wide or finding the net, she levelled for the first time at 6-6 and went ahead 7-6 with a cross-court drop after a long rally in which Saina covered the court well and also retrieved the smash well.
The Japanese managed to clinch a few straight points to reduce the gap to 13-14 at one stage, but the Indian showed her class and easily wrapped up the first game 21-13. Saina faced a stiff challenge in the second game with Takahashi even maintaining a slender lead. But the higher-ranked Indian turned the tables at 18-18 and eventually took the game and the match 21-19.
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