BASEL, March 19: Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and HS Prannoy registered fighting victories in the last eight contests of women�s and men�s singles events respectively to reach the semifinals of the USD 120,000 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament here.
Two-time champion, Saina took another step towards the Swiss Open crown after ekeing out a 13-21, 21-15, 21-14 win over Japan�s Sayaka Sato, seeded seventh, in a 52-minute contest to take her overall head-to-head record to 5-1.
The Olympic bronze medallist will next take on her fierce rival Wang Yihan, seeded 3rd. Saina has a 4-9 record against the former World No. 1 but the top seeded Indian will take confidence from her three wins against the Chinese in 2015.
In men�s singles, 13th seed Prannoy took almost an hour to get across Thailand�s Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk, seeded 16th, 21-18, 22-24, 21-9. The World No. 27 Indian will next face Tzu Wei Wang of Chinese Taipei.
Prannoy had lost to Tzu Wei in 2014 Austrian International Challenge. � PTI
