Top seed Saina Nehwal stormed into the semifinals of the women’s singles event, while P. Kashyap reached the last four stage in the men’s singles after beating fellow Indian Arvind Bhat in the Singapore Open Super Series badminton tournament on Friday.
World number six Saina needed just 32 minutes for her 21-17, 21-14 win over qualifier Li Xuerui of China at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
Saina will next meet fourth seeded Lan Lu of China late on Friday for a place in the summit clash. Lu had beaten unseeded Porntip Buranaprasert-suk 21-12, 21-9 in the other quarterfinal.
In the men’s singles also, Kashyap made it to the semifinals with a 21-17, 21-16 win over compatriot Arvind Bhat in a quarterfinal match that lasted for 40 minutes.
It was though curtains for India in the women’s doubles and the mixed doubles as they failed to get past the quarterfinals.
In the women’s doubles quarterfinal, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa lost 11-21, 19-21 to the Singapore duo of Shinta Mulia Sari and Lei Yao.
In the mixed doubles, Gutta and V. Diju, seeded sixth, lost to second seeds Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Rytter Juhl of Denmark 19-21, 16-21 in the quarterfinals.
— PTI