Saina, Prannoy reach semis of Swiss Open

BASEL: Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and H S Prannoy registered fighting victories in the last eight contests of women’s and men’s singles events respectively to reach the semifinals of the USD 120,000 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament here. Two-time champion, Saina took another step towards the Swiss Open crown after ekeing out a 13- 21 21-15 21-14 win over Japan’s Sayaka Sato, seeded seventh, in a 52-minute contest to take her overall headto-head record to 5-1. She battled through injuries last year and had to miss out on a few tournaments this season, including the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold and South Asian Games. The Olympic bronze medallist will next take on her fierce rival Wang Yihan, seeded 3rd. Saina has a 4-9 record against the former World No. 1 but the top seeded Indian will take confidence from her three wins against the Chinese in 2015. In men’s singles, 13th seed Prannoy took almost an hour to get across Thailand’s Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk, seeded 16th, 21- 18 22-24 21-9. The World No. 27 Indian will next face Tzu Wei Wang of Chin