Saina Nehwal, Parupalli Kashyap enter quarters

After winning on Thursday, top Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap will meet former World No.1 Yihan Wang of China and defending champion Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia respectively in the quarterfinals of Yonex Sunrise BWF Metlife India Superseries at the Siri Fort Sports Complex here on Friday.

While eighth seeded Saina overcame Thai Natcha Saengchote 21-15 21-12 in 35 minutes, Kashyap had to use all his experience to beat his compatriot RMV Gurusaidutt 21-15 16-21 21-11 in 59 minutes.

"My next match will be tougher. I don't have a great record against Yihan. But it is not just her, all Chinese players are difficult to play. To beat her I will have to be faster and my strokes should also be accurate," said Saina, against whom Wang holds a 7-1 record.

Kashyap – who equalled his head-to-head against Guru to two-all – said, "Both Guru and I know each-others game and it was never going to be an easy match. But I was confident of beating him."

Talking about Lee, he added: "Lee has a rock solid defence. I played him last year in France but lost. I have to control the speed of the match and keep the rallies going to have any chance."

Lee effortlessly defeated India's Sourabh Varma 21-9 21-6 in just 23 minutes on Thursday and Kashyap has never won a single game in his past three meetings against the Malaysian champion.

Meanwhile, the Indian doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa crashed out losing 21-13 21-19 to Chinese fifth seeds Qing Tian and Yunlei Zhao in 37 minutes.

Amongst other Indians, former national champion Trupti Murgunde lost 21-13 21-12 to Indonesian Aprilla Yuswandari, Sayali Gokhale went down 15-21 8-21 to South Korean Yeon Ju Bae.