Saina, Gurusaidutt advance, Kashyap out
Odense (Denmark) : India’s Saina Nehwal and R.M.V. Gurusaidutt made their way into the quarterfinals by notching up easy wins at the $400,000 Denmark Open at the Odense Sports Park here Thursday.
However, the campaigns of World No. 13 Parupalli Kashyap and Ajay Jayaram came to an end in the men’s singles second round of the penultimate Super Series Premier event of the year.
Defending champion Saina looked well on course to retain her title by thrashing her inexperienced Scottish opponent Kristy Gilmour in a second round tie. The Hyderabadi won 21-12, 21-7 in exactly half an hour.
The World No. 4 and fourth seeded Indian forced her opponent to commit errors. Skill wise, Saina was way ahead of the Scot and used exquisite drops at the net to make her way through.
Earlier, World No. 24 Gurusaidutt won 21-15, 21-16 in 35 minutes to extend his lead to 3-1 in career meetings over compatriot and friend Ajay Jayaram.
Gurusaidutt now has a tough task as he faces third seed Du Pengyu of China. However, the Indian can take heart from the fact that he beat the Chinese in Hong Kong two years ago in their only head-to-head contest.
On the other hand, London Olympics quarterfinalist Kashyap was completely out of touch as he could not raise his game to the level of World No. 5 and local favourite Jan O Jorgensen.
O Jorgensen, Kashyap’s teammate in the Indian Badminton League franchise Banga Beats, looked in control from the start and won 21-11, 21-15 in 35 minutes, extending his record to 3-1 over the Indian.
File Photo : AFP
