Malaysia Masters: Saina, Srikanth enter quarters

Saina Nehwal, seeded seventh, took 39 minutes to beat Yip 21-14, 21-16 in her second round clash.

Saina will be up against second seed Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the last-eight stage.

Saina Nehwal entered the women’s singles quarterfinal of the Malaysia Masters with a straight-game win over Hong Kong’s Pui Yin Yip here on Thursday.

Saina, seeded seventh, took 39 minutes to tame Yip 21-14, 21-16 in her second round clash.

She will play second seed Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the last-eight stage of the first Super 500 tournament of the year on Friday.

World No. 9 Saina holds an 8-4 overall head-to-head record against Okuhara, which includes back-to-back wins over the current world No. 2 in the last two tournaments -- last year’s Demark Open and the French Open.

If Saina manages to go past Okuhara, the Indian might run into fourth seed Carolina Marin, who is placed in her half of the draw.

In men's singles, Kidambi Srikanth also moved into the quarters with a hard-fought 23-21, 8-21, 21-18 win over World No. 10 Vincent Wing Ki Wong of Hong Kong.

While in women’s doubles, the Indian pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Siki Reddy was knocked out after losing its second round match 18-21, 17-21 to Indonesia’s Ni Ketut Mahadewi Istarani and Rizki Amelia Pradipta.