Indian badminton ace PV Sindhu cruised to the quarterfinals of the Malaysia Masters with a facile straight-game win over China’s Zhang Yi Man on Thursday.
The two-time Olympic medallist, who is seeded seventh, made short work of the world number 32, Yi Man 21-12 21-10 in just 28 minutes in the women’s singles second round clash.
However, a tough contest awaits the former World Champion, currently ranked seventh in the world, as she will cross swords with her nemesis Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei in the last eight.
Sindhu has a dismal 5-16 head-to-head record against the world No. 2, who had also beaten the Indian in the quarterfinals of the Malaysia Open last week.
In the men’s singles contest, B Sai Praneeth lost to Li She Feng of China 14-21 17-21 in 42 minutes as Parupalli Kashyap lost to Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia 21-10, 21-15.
HS Prannoy defeated Tzu Wei Wang 21-19, 21-16 to also book his place in the quarter-finals
Earlier on Wednesday, former world No. 1 Saina’s poor run of form continued as she suffered another early exit. Saina, a London 2012 Olympics bronze medallist, looked in good touch against South Korea’s Kim Ga Eun in the opening game but conceded the advantage to lose 21-16, 17-21, 14-21.
The 32-year-old, who had also made a first-round exit from the Malaysia Open Super 750 tournament last week, is yet to progress past the second round in any competition this year.
World No. 30 Sameer Verma lost to world No. 4 Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei 21-10, 12-21, 14-21 to make an early exit from the men’s singles event. In the women’s doubles, Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy lost to Indonesia’s Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma and Amalia Cahaya Pratiwi 21-19, 18-21, 21-16.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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