Saina Nehwal enters India Open semis

India's ace badminton player lost the 1st game 19-21 before making it 1-1 with spectacular & dominating shuttle play

India's premier badminton star Saina Nehwal orchestrated a fight back to beat Sung Ji Hyun in the quarter-finals of the $300,000 India Open Superseries at the Siri Fort Sports Complex here on Friday.

Defending champion Saina lost the first game 19-21 before making it 1-1 with spectacular and dominating shuttle play. She registered 21-14 and 21-19 in the final two games of the match that lasted an hour and 23 minutes.

With this win, world No.6 Saina improved her head-to-head record against the No.8 South Korean to 6-1.

However, Saina's title defence will face a great Chinese wall when she will face Olympic champion and world No.2 Li Xuerui, who holds a 10-2 advantage in career meetings against the 2015 World Championship runner-up.

Xuerui advanced to the final four stage with a battling 22-20, 12-21, 21-17 win over her compatriot Shixian Wang.

In the other women's singles quarter-final, former world champion Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand defeated Chinese Taipei' Tai Tzu Ying 12-21, 21-14, 22-20 in 58 minutes.

World No.5 Ratchanok will face the winner between Indian sensation P V Sindhu and Bae Yeon Ju of South Korea.

However, it was curtains for India's surprising women's doubles pair of Mohita Sahdev and Sanjana Santosh, who were thrashed 8-21, 2-21 by Japan's Naoko Fukuman and Kurumi Yonao.

Meanwhile in the men's singles semi-finals, Japan's Kento Momota will face China's Xue Song and in the other contest, Danish Viktor Axelsen will be up against South Korean Wan Ho Son.