Internet Desk: London Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal, along with B Sai Praneeth reached the semifinals of the $120000 Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold badminton on Friday.
The rank 11 star beat Japan’s Haruko Suzuki 21-15, 20-22, 21-11 to make the last-four stage following the women’s singles match which went on for an hour and nine minutes.
“Tough win today #thailandGPG #quaterfinals ….. won in three sets 21-15, 22-20, 21-11 ….” Saina wrote on her twitter handle.
The 27-year-old London Olympics medallist, defeated Ying Ying Lee from Malaysia 21-11 21-14 in the quarterfinals. She will face Busanan Ongbamrungphan in the semi-final.
Previously, at the Mimibutr stadium, the third seeded Praneeth swiftly defeated Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen 21-16 21-17 in the men’s singles section.
The world number 24 took 50 minutes to finish the task against her rival who is ranked 102 in the world.
The 24-year- old Praneeth had beaten Wangcharoen 18-21 21-14 21-15 at the Indonesian Masters last year which was their only meeting prior to today’s match.
The Singapore Open champion beat Iskandar Zulkarnain of Malaysia in straight games in the quarterfinals which took place on Thursday.