KUALA LUMPUR, April 2 (PTI): Officially crowned the world no. 1 in the BWF rankings, Saina Nehwal today continued her rampaging run with a dominating straight-game win over Chinese qualifier Xue Yao to reach the quarterfinals of the Malaysia Open Super Series premier badminton, here today.
Saina, who was ensured of the world no. 1 during her exploits at the India Open triumph, defeated Yao 21-13 21-9 in a lop-sided 30-minute women�s singles to set up a clash with another Chinese shuttler, Sun Yu, ranked 15th in the world.
However, it was curtains for Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap and Indonesian Masters winner H S Prannoy in men�s singles competition.
Kashyap, who slipped to world number 17 today following a dip in performance due to a spate of injuries, suffered a 10-21 6-21 defeat to world no. 1 Chen Long of China.
Prannoy, who jumped three places to 14th after his giant-killing exploits at the India Open, went down to two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan of China 15-21 14-21 in another men�s singles match that lasted 52 minutes.
Commonwealth Games silver medallist Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, too, suffered a loss in the second round, going down fighting 23-21 8-21 17-21 to sixth seeded Indonesian pair of Nitya Krishinda Maheswari and Greysia Polii in a close to an hour match.
Interestingly, it was Yao who had ended Saina�s campaign at the 2014 Malaysia Open but today the Indian just brushed her aside, riding on her better foot movement and powerful array of strokes.
