Malaysia Masters
Kuala Lumpur: Saina Nehwal and reigning world champion P V Sindhu produced dominating performances to progress to the women’s singles quarterfinals of the Malaysia Masters Super 500 badminton tournament here on Thursday.
Sixth seed Sindhu notched up a commanding 21-10 21-15 victory over Japan’s Aya Ohori in a pre-quarterfinal match lasting just 34 minutes. It was Sindhu’s ninth successive win over Ohori. The 24-year-old Indian, who won the World Championships in Basel last year, will take on world number 1 Tai Tzu Ying in the quarterfinals after the Chinese Taipei shuttler got the better of South Korea’s Sung Ji Hyun 21-18 16-21 21-10. Saina, who had won the Indonesia Masters last year before going through a rough patch, dispatched eight seed An Se Young of South Korea 25-23 21-12 after a thrilling 39-minute contest to make the last eight. This is Saina’s first win over the South Korean, who got the better of the Indian in the quarterfinals of the French Open last year. The two-time Commonwealth Games champion will next take on Olympic champion Carolina Marin. Saina had defeated Lianne Tan of Belgium 21-15 21-17 in the opening round on Wednesday. In the men’s singles, India’s challenge ended after both Sameer Verma and H S Prannoy crashed out in the second round. While Verma lost to Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia 19-21 20-22, Prannoy was shown the door by top seed Kento Momota of Japan 14-21 16-21.
The 2020 Malaysia Masters is the first tournament of the 2020 BWF World Tour and also part of the Malaysia Masters championships, which have been held since 2009. This tournament is organized by the Badminton Association of Malaysia (PTI)