Swiss Open: Saina Nehwal, Sai Praneeth reach pre-quarterfinals

Nehwal is a two-time winner of Swiss Open, capturing back-to-back titles in 2011 and 12.

New Delhi: Indian ace Saina Nehwal made short of her German opponent to enter the the pre-quarterfinals of women's singles event at the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Basel on Wednesday.

The two-time champion and top seed took 33 minutes to beat Germany's Karin Schnaase in straight games 21-7, 21-15. She will play Czech's Kristina Gavnholt in the next round.

The 25-year-old had previously won the tournament in 2011 and 2012.

In men's singles section, B Sai Praneeth Uzbekistan's Artyom Savatyugin 21-7 21-10 in a 21-minute match. And he will play second seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei tomorrow.

Last week, he had stunned former World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in the opening round of the All England Championship.

Besides Praneeth, three other Indians are also alive in men's singles event with Ajay Jayaram, H S Prannoy and Sameer Verma all making into second round.