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Basel: Top seed Saina Nehwal reached the pre-quarter finals in the women’s singles event of the Swiss Open GP Gold.
Saina, who regained her second place in the world ranking on Thursday, prevailed over Sashina Vignes Waran of France 13-21, 21-15, 21-12 in a 47-minute match.
Meanwhile, Parupalli Kashyap crashed out of the tournament after losing to Wei Feng Chong of Malaysia in the pre-quarter finals of the men’s singles event, on Thursday.
The fifth seeded Indian squandered a game advantage to lose to his ninth-seeded opponent 21-18, 7-21, 16-21 in a 55-minute contest.
Kashyap, who jumped two places to become the world No. 7 in the latest ranking released on Thursday, had earlier edged out German Dieter Domke 15-21, 22-20, 21-13 to reach the last 16 stage.
The London Olympics bronze medallist will next take on Petya Nedelcheva in the pre-quarters.
In another men’s singles pre-quarter final, H.S. Prannoy lost to Tien Chen Chou of Chinese Taipei 16-21, 21-15, 15-21. Prannoy had stunned seventh seed Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand in the second round.
In men’s doubles, the Indian duo of Pranav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar was handed a straight-game defeat by the Korean top seeds Sung Hyun Ko and Yong Dae Lee, who won 21-14, 21-12.
In women’s singles, PV Sindhu also made an exit from the tournament after losing to qualifier Yui Hashimito of Japan 21-23, 11-21 in a 39-minute women's singles second round contest.
Saina had beaten Sashina during the 2011 edition of the tournament but she was finding it difficult to negotiate her game last night and could not put up any challenge in the first game, as the world No. 35 French raced to a 1-0 lead.
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