Saina lone Indian hope in Malaysia Open

Officially crowned the world no. 1, ace shuttler Saina Nehwal today emerged as the lone Indian hope at the Malaysia Super Series premier badminton tournament after she defeated Chinese qualifier Xue Yao to reach the quarterfinals of the USD 500,000 event, here.
Saina, who was ensured of the world no. 1 during her exploits at the India Open triumph, continued her rampaging run with a dominating win over Yao 21-13 21-9 in a lop-sided 30-minute women's singles match to set up a clash with another Chinese shuttler, Sun Yu, ranked 15th in the world.
After clinching successive titles last month, world no. 4 Kidambi Srikanth lost in the second round today, going down to China's Tian Houwei 14-21 18-21 in a men's singles match.

It was also curtains for Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap and Indonesian Masters winner H S Prannoy.
Kashyap, who slipped to world number 17 today following a dip in performance due to a spate of injuries, suffered a 10-21 6-21 defeat to world no. 1 Chen Long of China.
Prannoy, who jumped three places to 14th after his giant-killing exploits at the India Open, went down to two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan of China 15-21 14-21 in another men's singles match that lasted 52 minutes.
Commonwealth Games silver medallist Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, too, suffered a loss in the second round, going down fighting 23-21 8-21 17-21 to sixth seeded Indonesian pair of Nitya Krishinda Maheswari and Greysia Polii in a close to an hour match.

Interestingly, it was Yao who had ended Saina's campaign at the 2014 Malaysia Open but today the Indian just brushed her aside, riding on her better foot movement and powerful array of strokes.