Kuala Lumpur: Anup Sridhar’s red hot form continued as he scalped world No. 16 Muhd Hafiz B Hashim of Malaysia to storm into the men’s singles quarter finals of World Badminton Championships here on Thursday.

The Indian showed nerves of steel to come out victorious from a neck-and-neck thriller 21-19, 18-21, 21-15 and knock off the 2003 All England champion, who was seeded 13th here.

Sridhar thus registered his second successive upset win following his triumph over Olympic gold medallist Taufiq Hidayat on Wednesday. Sridhar beat eighth seeded Hidayat 21-14, 24-26, 22-20.

The 40th ranked Indian faces defending champion and world No. 1 Lin Dan in the next round. However, in the women’s singles Saina Nehwal bowed out after losing 13-21, 17-21 to world No. 4 Pi Hongyan of France in the third round. (PTI)