New Delhi: India’s Saina Nehwal beat Pi Hongyan of France 21-10, 21-17 to reach the quarterfinals of the All England Badminton Championship being held in London on Thursday. The World No 4 Indian had a tough day against Thai qualifier Sapsiree Taerattanachai on Wednesday, but had won her match in three sets.
In a relatively easy encounter against Hongyan, which lasted for 34 minutes, the Indian ace shuttler took an early lead in the first set and wrapped up the game with ease at 21-10. Though the Frenchwoman came up with a good fight the second and stayed in the contest till the end, Saina notched up the set at 21-17. In the last eight stage, Saina will meet Xuerui Li of China on Friday.
Earlier, it took just 30 minutes for Qing Tian and Yunlei Zhao of China to quell the Indian challenge of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa 21-10, 21-15 in the women's doubles second round. The duo of Valiyaveetil Diju and Jwala too failed to get past the first round in mixed doubles.
