Saina Nehwal

Odense: Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal notched up a straight set victory over Minatsu Mitani of Japan to advance to the quarter finals of the Denmark Super Series here Thursday.

Returning to the court after a hiatus of two months, Saina comfortably saw off the world No. 28 Japanese 21-15, 21-14 in a 20-minute women’s singles second-round contest.

The 22-year-old Indian will next take on the winner of another pre-quarter final match between qualifier Lok Yan Poon and fifth seed Tine Baun Friday.

Saina took time to get into her elements, but once in her zone, she didn’t take much time to romp to victory.

She was lagging behind in the first game initially, but soon gathered her composure to make it 1-0.

In the second set, the Indian opened up a 4-0 lead and extended it to 11-4 in a jiffy.

Mitani did well to reel off six straight points and move to 10-11. But after the break, Saina crafted her way to seal the issue.

Saina recorded 27 smash winners in comparison to the 19 by her opponent. The Indian, who has beaten Mitani twice before, was also better near the net.

Rising Indian shuttler Sourabh Varma lost 19-21 17-21 to Indonesia's Sony Dwi Kuncoro in the second round after battling for 44 minutes.

He had come into this contest after upsetting world number eight and home favourite Peter Hoeg Gade in straight games last night.

The 19-year-old Indian had prevailed 21-18 21-14 against the sixth-seeded former All England champion in a contest lasting 42 minutes.

Sourabh, who was knocked out in the first round of the recent National Championships in Srinagar, did not get overawed by his five-time European champion opponent and matched his experience quite well on the court.

Another Indian Ajay Jayaram, lost 21-19, 8-21, 9-21 to seventh-seeded Chinese Pengyu Du.

In the 59-minute match, Ajay, who was a finalist at the National Championships, showed promise to start with but eventually fizzled out against his fancied rival.