China Open: Saina Nehwal eyes quarter-final berth

Indian star shuttler Saina Nehwal will aim to book her place in the quarter-finals of the China Open Superseries Premier when she crosses swords with fifth-seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the women's singles event here on Thursday.

Yesterday, the London Olympic bronze-medalist kicked off her campaign with straight games win over Beiwen Zhang of America.

Nehwal continued her rich vein of form as she registered a comfortable 21-12, 21-13 win over her American opponent Zhang in a one-sided clash that lasted just half an hour.

Last week, Nehwal produced an excellent display of badminton skills to stun Rio Olympic silver-medallist PV Sindhu 21-17, 27-25 and lift her third Senior National Badminton Championship title.

Elsewhere, world number two and Rio Olympics silver-medallist PV Sindhu will take 17-year-old Chinese qualifier Yue Han in the second round.

Defending champion Sindhu had earlier swept aside Japanese Sayaka Sato 24-22, 23-21 in a tiring first-round clash, which lasted over an hour.

In men's singles event, HS Prannoy, who recently won the Senior National Badminton Championship, will lock horns with Cheuk Yiu Lee of Hong Kong for a place in the quarter-finals.

Prannoy produced a spirited performance as he rebounded strongly from a game down to register a 18-21, 21-16, 21-19 win over Korean opponent Lee Dong-keun in a clash that lasted one and a half hour.