Saina advances in Malaysia

On day she regained her world number 2 status, India ace Saina Nehwal produced a dominant performance to cruise into the quarterfinals of the Malaysia Open Super Series with a straight-game victory over Hong Kong’s Pui Yin Yip on Thursday. The 22-year-old Saina, who was given the top billing in the tournament, didn’t break much sweat as she brushed aside Pui Yin Yip 21-12 21-9 in a lop-sided women’s singles match that lasted only half an hour. The Olympic bronze medallist Indian will next take on Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the quarterfinals at the National Sports Complex here. However, India’s top male shuttler, Parupalli Kashyap went down fighting to sixth seed Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark 17-21 14-21 in the second round of men’s singles event.