India’s PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal both progressed to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open Superseries after winning their respective second-round encounters on Thursday. Sindhu made easy work of China’s Chen Xiaoxin, beating her in straight games. Nehwal was, however, stretched to three games by the United States’ Soniia Cheah.
Sindhu was hardly worked by Chen, who conceded the first game 21-13 without putting up much of a fight. The Chinese put on a better show in the second game and kept up with Sindhu till the latter stages, before the Indian edged it 21-18. Sindhu faces a difficult quarter-final match-up against world No 1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei.
Nehwal also coasted through the first game of her match against Cheah, winning eight consecutive points to take it to 20-9. However, the 16th-ranked Indian squandered six game points to make it 20-15, before eventually clinching the game 21-15.
Buoyed by her late surge, Cheah brought her A-game into the second game and never let Nehwal off the hook. Nehwal again squandered a game point to lock the game at 20-20, before Cheah won the next two points to take it to a decider.
Nehwal faced a tough ask to play a third game given she is still not at her best following a knee surgery. But the Olympic bronze medalist won the first four points and then never looked back, eventually winning the game 21-14. Nehwal will face sixth seed Sun Yu of China for a place in the semi-finals.
In the men’s singles side, K Srikanth and B Sai Praneeth set up an all-Indian quarter-final clash by winning their second-round matches. There was no good news for India on the doubles side, however, as the women’s doubles pairing of Ashwini Ponappa and N Sikki Reddy, and men’s doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty both lost their second-round matches to exit the tournament.
