Saina in quarters; Jwala-Ashwini, Manu-Sumeeth out of Indonesia Open

Star shuttler Saina Nehwal's straight-game win in the pre-quarterfinals of the Indonesia Open Superseries was the lone bright spot as Rio-bound doubles pairs Jwala Gutta-Ashwini Ponappa and Manu Attri-B. Sumeeth Reddy crashed out on Thursday.

World No.8 Saina registered a comprehensive 21-11, 21-10 win over local favourite Fitriani Fitriani to advance to the quarter-finals of the women's singles at the Istora Gelora Bung Karno Stadium here.

Saina, who had beaten Fitriani at the Badminton Asia Championships in April this year, moved to a 9-7 lead and then raced to 14-7 with six consecutive points to easily pocket the first game.

In the second game, the Hyderabadi zoomed 10-3 ahead and went on to thrash the Indonesian without losing much sweat.

Saina, the three-time champion, is likely to take on top seed Carolina Marin of Spain in the last eight.

However, India's doubles shuttlers failed to make an impact as both the women's and men's pairs of Jwala- Ashwini and Manu-Sumeeth suffered contrasting defeats.

The World No.14 duo of Jwala-Ashwini lost 9-21, 18-21 to Chinese combo of Huang Yaqiong and Tang Jinhua in the women's doubles, while No.20 Manu-Sumeeth went down 18-21, 13-21 to sixth seeded South Koreans Ko Sung Hyun and Shin Baek Cheol.

--IANS

tri/sam/vt