Saina sails into Japan Open semifinals

World number five Saina Nehwal thrashed Juan Gu of Singapore in straight games to reach the women’s singles semifinals of the Japan Open Super Series tournament in Tokyo on Friday.

The Commonwealth Games gold medallist had a comfortable 21-17, 21-13 victory in just 29 minutes to set up a last four clash against world championship bronze medallist Juliane Schenk of Germany.

The eighth seed knocked out second seeded Shixian Wang of China 21-15, 21-19 in the other quarterfinals.

“Saina played very well today. There were no problems at all. She led from the start and had a comfortable victory. She appeared to be in prime form and is playing very well at the moment,” said Madhumita Bisht, coach of the Indian badminton contingent.

Though the scoreboard suggests the first game was a close encounter Bisht, however, disagrees.

“Unlike what the scoreline suggests, she was continuously in the lead in the first game. In the second game she was moving well and easily took the game away.”

Speaking about Saina’s next round opponent, Bisht said, “The German girl is good player. It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow.”

If Saina beats Schenk she could well meet world champion Yihan Wang, who beat Saina in the China Masters earlier this month, or her compatriot sixth seed Xin (F) Liu.