Paris, Aug. 25: Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal survived a scare before prevailing over unseeded Chinese Taipei’s Hsian Huan Chen in a thrilling three-game match to reach the pre-quarterfinals of World Championship here on Wednesday.
The second seed Indian, one of the hot favourites to win the World title, beat Chen 20-22, 21-15, 21-8 in the second round of the women’s singles here.
The Indian men’s and women’s doubles pairs steamrolled their respective opponents to sail into the pre-quarterfinals.
Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, seeded 16th, needed jut 18 minutes to thrash Ukrainians Maria Ulitina and Natalya Voytsekh 21-8, 21-10 in their second round match.
Jwala had also made it to the pre-quarterfinals of the mixed doubles event. She paired up with V. Diju to beat the Malaysian pair of Peng Soon Chan and Liu Ying Goh 21-19, 21-8 in the second round.
In the men’s doubles second round, 15th seeded Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas also scored a comfortable 21-14, 21-16 win over South Africans Dorian Lance James and Willem Viljoen in just 23 minutes.
Saina was clearly not in her elements in the first game as she blew a 20-18 lead while Chen, playing controlled shots at the nets, won her way through to 22-20. “I know I was a little tight in the first game and it normally happens when you play your first match in a World Cup,” said Saina.
“Actually, I should have won the first game after leading by a couple of points but that’s the nature of the game,” she added.
In the second game, Saina didn’t take too many risks and cut down on the unforced errors. Her long shots were more controlled and she began dominating the mid court.
Asked if she was afraid of losing the match at any stage, Saina smiled and replied, “I never think of losing. I know every match will be tough and I just have to play and strategise according to the situation.”
Saina will now meet the winner of the match between Malaysia’s Mew Choo Wong and Russia’s 13th seed Ella Diehl on Thursday.