India's Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap entered the quarter-finals but Kidambi Srikanth and women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta-Ashwini Ponnappa lost in the pre-quarterfinals of the $800,000 Indonesia Open Superseries Premier here on Thursday.
Second seed Saina, who earlier in the day dropped to No.3 in the women's singles category of the world rankings, breezed past Chinese Taipei's Hsu Ya Ching 21-13, 21-15 in just 36 minutes in a round of 16 clash at the Istora Gelora Bung Karno Stadium. Living up to her billing, Saina controlled the game from the beginning and her unseeded rival was never allowed to get a foothold in the match.
Saina, winner here in 2009, 2010 and 2012, will now face China's former world No.1 Shixian Wang, who defeated South Korea's world No.12 Bae Yeon Ju 21-15, 21-13.
Shixian, bronze medallist in the 2010 World Championships, had defeated Saina in the Australian Open last week and Saina will be eager to hit it back against the formidable Chinese. Both Saina and world No.7 Shixian are at 6-all as per as head-to-head is concerned.
In another women's singles' quarter-final, Japan's world No.11 Akane Yamaguchi upset China's current Olympic champion Li Xuerui with a 12-21, 21-18, 21-13 victory. With this win, Yamaguchi set up a clash against china's former world champion Yihan Wang, who got a easy win over Germany's Karin Schnaase. World No.8 Yihan won 21-8, 21-15.
India's 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medal-winning shuttler Kashyap, who ousted Thailand's Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk in the first round, registered a resounding 21-11, 21-14 win over world No.8 Son Wan Ho of South Korea.
With this win, world No.12 Indian improved his head-to-head record to 2-3 against Son. In the next round, the 28-year-old Indian faces a big task against China's reigning world champion Chen Long, who registered a facile 21-16, 21-10 victory over England's Rajiv Ouseph. Kashyap trails 1-7 against world No.1 Chen in career meetings.
However, the World No.4 Srikanth suffered a shocking 21-14, 20-22, 13-21 loss against world No.166 Ginting Anthony. In the next round, the Indonesian will face Japan's world No.9 Kento Momota, who beat Hong Kong's Hu Yun 21-13, 21-16.
In the women's doubles competition, the Indian pair of Jwala-Ashwini was thrashed 8-21, 8-21 by China's Yu Yang and Zhong Qianxin. India's men's doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar also ended their campaign, losing 13-21, 11-21 to China's Chai Biao and Hong Wei.
Denmark's third seed and defending champion Jan O Jorgensen overcame Indonesian Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka to set up a men's singles' quarter-final against local qualifier Christie Jonatan.
Germany's world No.9 Marc Zwiebler will meet Japan's world No.22 Kenichi Tago in the final eight clash.
