Sindhu wins, Saina ousted

Fuzhou: Defending champion PV Sindhu sailed into the quarter-finals but newly-crowned National champions Saina Nehwal and H S Prannoy crashed out of the China Open Super Series Premier here on Thursday.

World No 2 Sindhu made quick work of China's Han Yue 21-15, 21-13, an opponent ranked at 104 in BWF ranking, in a lop-sided 40-minute women's singles match.

Olympic silver medallist Sindhu will clash with Chinese qualifier Gao Fangjie on Friday. It turned out to be a dismal day for Saina and Prannoy, who had clinched the National championship titles at Nagpur earlier this month.

Saina lost 18-21, 11-21 against her Japanese nemesis and fifth seed Akane Yamaguchi in the women's singles second round, World No. 11 Prannoy was stunned by 53rd ranked Cheuk Yiu Lee of Hong Kong 21-19, 21-17 in the men's singles event.

For Saina, the match against Yamaguchi was always expected to be a tricky one considering her inferior head-to-head record against the Japanese.

Before the start of the match, Saina trailed Yamaguchi one to three in head-to-head record with their three previous results going in the Japanese favour and the trend continued.

Saina, thus, suffered her fourth defeat against Yamaguchi this year. The London Olympic bronze-medallist, who won the title here in 2014, got off to a good start, taking a slender 11-9 lead but Yamaguchi fought back to pocket the first game 21-18.

Down by a game, Saina's game started to deteriorate. She lacked momentum in the second game and never looked in the mental frame to make a comeback, even as Yamaguchi comfortably took control of the proceedings.