India have had a mixed day in the ongoing China Open with Saina Nehwal progressing to the quarter finals while PV Sindhu had to suffer an unfortunate exit. Saina defeated Malaysia's Tee Jing Yi and Sindhu lost to Wang Shixian on Thursday.
Jing Yi put up a brave fight against Saina but the top seed won a tough match with the score reading 21-10, 19-21 and 21-19.
The India shuttler looked comfortable in the first set as she played some beautiful strokes to take the set, but Jing Yi came back strongly to clinch the second set and played a brilliant game in the third set. Eventually, it was Saina's experience in the circuit as a top player, which paid dividends as she won the final set, showing some strong character.
Despite the India shuttler reaching the quarter finals, Saina has looked below par in the competition. In her first round match against Sun Yu also, Saina, who was stretched by her Chinese opponent, won a tight game 22-20 and 21-18. Saina should defeat such opponents with relative ease.
Saina is one of the most inconsistent players in the circuit at present, which can be established from her early exit in Japan and Denmark. If Saina wants to defend her title in China, she needs to come up with an improved performance in the future rounds of the competition.
Saina will face Japan's Nozomi Okuhara in the quarter finals on Friday.
However, Sindhu was unlucky to have been knocked out by Shixian, who came back from one set down to book her place in the quarter finals of the competition. The score read, 18-21, 21-18 and 21-16.
The match, as expected, was a close affair with both the players having a go with their aggressive plays, and hence producing an amazing display on the court. There was nothing to choose between the two players, however, Shixian played some crucial point well in the final set to help her defeat Sindhu.
