Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth advanced to the quarterfinals of the women's and men's singles at the ongoing Australian Open Super Series in Sydney on Thursday.
Srikanth recorded a straight-set victory against Indonesia's Sony Dwi Kuncoro 21-19, 21-12 in the second round to make his way through to the last eight in 34 minutes.
Saina followed suit, registering a 21-12, 21-14 win over Malaysia's Jin Wei Goh in 37 minutes. The first set was head-to-head, with Saina trailing Goh 7-4 before the seventh-seeded Indian bounced back to equal the set 9-9. Saina then stretched the lead to 13-9 after winning six consecutive points. The second set started in a similar pattern as both the players were tied 6-6 at one point before Saina outplayed Goh, clinching a berth in the quarterfinals.
Earlier, India's No.3 badminton player Sameer Verma, lost to Indonesia's Anthony Sinisuka Ginting 21-11, 7-21, 19-21 in a hard-fought match which took close to an hour. While the first set was an easy win for Verma, Ginting made a strong comeback, winning in 53 minutes.
In the women's singles event, Tanvi Lad put in a spirited first set performance, but was eventaully defeated by fourth-seeded Wang Yihan of China 18-21, 6-21 in 33-minutes.