Saina Nehwal storms into Malaysia Masters semi-finals, Ajay Jayaram out

Saina Nehwal defeated Indonesia’s Fitriani Fitriani in the quarter-finals of Malaysia Masters GP gold badminton tournament while Ajay Jayaram lost to Anthony Sinisuka Ginting

Updated on: Jan 20, 2017, 20:08:02 IST

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Saina Nehwal booked her place in the semi-finals of Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament after crushing Indonesia’s Fitriani Fitriani in straight games in Sarawak on Friday.

Saina Nehwal is the top seed in women’s singles at Malaysi a Masters. (PTI)

The top seed, who made a first-round exit in the Rio Olympics in August due to a knee injury, dished out a dominating show to sweep aside eighth-seed Fitriani 21-15, 21-14 in an one-sided quarter-final clash that lasted 40 minutes.

Saina, a London Olympics bronze medallist, will now take on Hong Kong’s Yip Pui Yin for a place in the summit showdown. Saina has a 6-2 head-to-head record against Yin, who had previously defeated the Indian at 2010 Asian Games.

In men’s singles event, sixth-seed Ajay Jayaram suffered a major blow as he crashed out after going down 13-21,8-21 to Indonesia’s Anthony Sinisuka Ginting.

It was Jayaram’s third defeat to the Indonesian, having lost to him at Hyderabad Asia Team Championship as well as in French Open.

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