Saina Nehwal reaches quarter-finals of Indonesia Open

Jakarta: India`s Saina Nehwal overcame a spirited challenge from Aprilla Yuswandari of Indonesia to enter the women`s singles quarter-finals of the Indonesia Open Super Series badminton event here Thursday.

The World NO.5 got past her 46th-ranked opponent 21-17, 14-21, 21-13 in a second round match, lasting 59 minutes. The Indian next plays higher-ranked Chinese Shixian Wang, who beat Singapore`s Juan Gu 21-12, 21-11. Saina, who won the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold event Sunday, will go into Friday`s match with confidence. She leads Shixian 2-1 in their head-to-head record and most recently beat the World No.4 in straight games to win the Swiss Open in March. Another Indian, P.V. Sindhu takes on Germany`s Juliane Schenk later in the day. Meanwhile, India`s highest-ranked men`s player Ajay Jayaram lost his second round match to Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka of Indonesia 15-21, 14-21. Parupalli Kashyap will face top seed Chen Long of China later Thursday evening. IANS