Singapore Open: Saina enters her first quarter-final in 16 months

Saina Nehwal showed glimpses of her glorious past as she earned a stunning win over Chinese fifth seed and two-time World Championship bronze medallist He Bingjiao at the $3.7 million Singapore Open on Thursday to enter her first quarter-final in 16 months.

The only Indian woman ever to be ranked No 1 in the BWF women’s singles rankings, Saina beat Bingjiao 21-19, 11-21, 21-17 in 58 minutes to maintain an unbeaten record (2-0) against the world No 9. This was the first time since the Orleans Masters in March 2021 that the 32-year-old has won successive matches and her first victory over a top-10 player since January 2020.

The London Olympics bronze medallist had beaten compatriot Malvika Bansod—who defeated Saina at the India Open in New Delhi in January—in straight games in the women’s singles opener on Wednesday.

A chronic knee injury, a tear in her groin and other health issues have bogged down the world No 24 in the last couple of years, resulting in very little match practice which subsequently also affected her on-court performance. In 2022 itself, Saina has lost eight times in 15 matches.

The two-time Commonwealth Games champion—who ironically was left out of India’s Birmingham 2022 squad—will face Japan’s Aya Ohori next, who has a 1-0 head-to-head record against the Indian.

Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu continued her winning run at the Singapore Indoor Stadium with a 19-21, 21-19, 21-18 win in an hour and six minutes over Vietnam’s Thuy Linh Nguyen. The third seed will face Chinese world No 19 Han Yue against whom Sindhu has an unbeaten 2-0 record.

In men’s singles, India’s Thomas Cup hero HS Prannoy upset third seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei to enter the quarter-finals of the Super 500 event. Prannoy won 14-21, 22-20, 21-18 in an hour and nine minutes to better his record to 3-4 against the world No 4. The world No 19 will next face Japanese world No 43 Kodai Naraoka.

In doubles, Thomas Cup champions MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila also earned a sensational win as they beat Malaysian sixth seeds Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin 18-21, 24-22, 21-18 in an hour and five minutes to enter the last eight stage. This was the first meeting between the two pairs. The Indian world No 40 pair will take on Indonesian second seeds and former world champions Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan, who have a 3-0 record against the Indian combine.

Earlier in the day, Mithun Manjunath and Ashmita Chaliha—both of whom earned big wins in their openers—went down in the second round. Manjunath, who beat compatriot and former world No 1 Kidambi Srikanth in the opener, lost 10-21, 21-18, 16-21 in an hour and 12 minutes to Irish Nhat Nguyen. Chaliha, who beat Thai seventh seed Busanan Ongbamrungphan, lost 9-21, 13-21 in 25 minutes to China’s Han Yue.

Pooja Dandu and Arathi Sara Sunil (women’s doubles) and HV Nithin and Poorvisha S Ram (mixed doubles) also lost on Thursday.

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