Odense, October 18: Former world number one Saina Nehwal reached the quarterfinals of the ongoing Denmark Open after defeating Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the women's singles event here on Thursday (October 18).
The 28-year-old Saina registered an easy 21-15, 21-17 win over Yamaguchi to advance further in the tournament.
Nehwal did not break much sweat in the match and looked much comfortable as compared to her opening round clash against Cheung Ngan Yi of Hong Kong. Making a winning start to the match, Nehwal won the opening game 21-15 as her Japanese opponent failed to put much fight in the game.
Saina Nehwal tames Akane Yamaguchi!
— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) October 18, 2018
Powerpacked performance from @NSaina ensures #AkaneYamaguchi bowes out of #DenmarkOpenBadminton. 2012 Olympic Medalist stroms into the QF with a 21-15; 21-17 win. This is Saina's first victory in 7 encounters. #IndiaontheRise #badminton pic.twitter.com/jvwrlaEEPD
The world number two Japanese was expected to hit back strongly in the second game but this time as well Nehwal did not give much scoring opportunity to Yamaguchi resulting in a straight-game victory for the Indian.
Later in the day, Indian shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Veera are slated to appear in their respective second round matches of men's singles event of the tournament.