Top seed Saina Nehwal overcame the challenge of Sapsiree Taerattanachai, ranked 36th in the world, 21-10, 22-20 in 42 minutes in the women’s singles quarterfinals of the Thailand Open GP badminton tournament in Bangkok on Friday. The world No 5 will meet another Thai girl Porntip Buranprasertsuk, who is seeded third, in the semis on Saturday.
Saina dominated the first game jumping to a 8-0 lead before winning it in 16 minutes. However, Saina ran into rough weather against a gritty Taerattanachai in the second game. She began confidently by taking a 4-2 lead. However, the Thai began to call the shots and it turned into a tight-rope walk for Saina. Taerattanachai had Saina on the edge. The Thai girl took a 16-9 lead. But the Indian clawed back steadily to narrow the gap to 15-17 before Taerattanachai threatened to level the match. Saina held her nerves to level at 19-all. The Thai girl had the chance to wrap up the second game. She was leading 20-19 but in the end Taerattanachai fell to Saina.
However, India’s challenge ended in men’s singles. Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia outclassed 12th seed Sourabh Verma 21-6, 21-8. B Sai Praneeth lost to China’s Chen Yueken 15-21, 17-21 in 39 minutes. Sameer Varma also lost his match.