Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal sealed a semifinal spot after a hard-fought victory but compatriot P V Sindhu crumbled under pressure to bow out of the women's singles competition at the Malaysia Open Super Series Premier tournament here on Friday.
World No. 8 Saina dug deep into her vast experience as she recovered from a game deficit to beat Thailand's Porntip Buranaprasertsuk 19-21, 21-14, 21-14 in a 58-minute clash at the quarterfinals stage of the $550,000 event. Saina had beaten Porntip seven times in their last eight meetings.
The Olympic bronze medallist Indian will next meet Tai Tzu Ying on Saturday. Saina has a 5-8 record against the Chinese Taipei shuttler, who has beaten the Indian in their last five meetings, including in last month's All England Championship.
The experience of beating the World No. 4 Ratchanok Intanon at the Korea Open last year, however, did not quite help Sindhu as she suffered her fourth defeat to the Thai girl in five meetings, going down 7-21, 8-21 in 29 minutes. As a coach my role is to make the captain’s job as easy as possible. I give him all the appropriate information that he needs, leading into a game and through the course of the game and then just let him use his instincts while he is on field