Saina Nehwal in semis of China Open

Fuzhou (China): Defending champion Saina Nehwal cruised into the semi-finals of the $700,000 China Open Super Series, seeing off Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara in straight games on Friday.

A relaxed Saina didn’t break a sweat and her cool demeanour helped to stave off the challenge from the world no. 10 in a comfortable 21-16, 21-13 win in the women’s quarter-finals that lasted 42 minutes. The top seeded Indian has set up a semi-final clash with 2011 world champion and 2012 London Olympics silver medallist Wang Yihan, one of Saina’s toughest rivals, who has beaten her nine times.

Saina went about her business with consummate ease and even though Okuhara surged ahead to a 5-2 lead early on, she remained unaffected. Saina rode on her sharp and deceptive strokes to make it 5-5 and then led 8-6. Okuhara twice hit long as Saina led 11-8 at the break.

The Indian finally sealed the first game with a cross court drop. In the second game, Saina waited for her rival to commit the errors. She led 11-3. In the end, Saina came up with a controlled push at the nets, which Okuhara had no clue to move to 20-14 and then she closed out the match with another deceptive low return at the net to seal a place in the semi-finals.