Sarawak [Malaysia], Jan.20 :Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal booked her place in the semi-finals of the Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament after crushing Indonesia's Fitriani Fitriani in straight games in women's singles event here on Friday.
The top-seed, who made a first-round exit in the Rio Olympics in August due to a knee injury which required surgery, dished out a dominating show to swept aside eighth-seed Fitriani 21-15, 21-14 in a one-sided quarter-final clash that lasted 40 minutes.
Saina , the 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 has been crashed out of the tournament after going down 13-21,8-21 at the hands of 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.
Source: ANI
