Swiss Open: Saina Nehwal reaches last four after registering win against Sayaka Sato

New Delhi: Indian badminton queen Saina Nehwal reached the semis of the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament being held at Basel, after winning a close-fought battle in women's singles match against Japan's Sayaka Sato.

Two-time champion, Saina took another step towards the Swiss Open crown after ekeing out a 13-21 21-15 21-14 win over, seeded seventh, in a 52-minute contest to take her overall head-to-head record to 5-1.

Saina will next face her fierce rival Wang Yihan, who is seeded 3rd. The top seeded Indian will look to take confidence from her three wins against the Chinese in 2015.

Meanwhile, men's badminton player HS Prannoy too reached the last four after beating Thailand's Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk, seeded 16th, 21-18 22-24 21-9.

The World No. 27 Indian will next face Tzu Wei Wang of Chinese Taipei.

Interestingly, Prannoy had lost to Tzu Wei in 2014 Austrian International Challenge.

(With PTI inputs)