Saina Nehwal secured a straight game win over Ukraine’s Maria Ulitina to storm into women’s quarterfinals of the $170,000 Barcelona Spain Masters badminton here on Thursday.
Saina brushed aside Maria 21-10, 21-19 in the second round to set up a last-eight clash with Thailand’s third seed Busanan Ongbamrungphan, who has beaten the Indian twice in the last two encounters.
Sameer Verma also made it to the last eight with a hard-fought 21-14, 16-21, 21-15 win over Germany’s Kai Schaefer.
However, K. Srikanth went down 21-6, 21-17 to fellow Indian Ajay Jayaram, dashing his hopes of qualifying for the Tokyo Games.
Srikanth desperately needs to win a tournament or make it to the quarters and semifinals consistently to qualify for the Olympics.
The results (second round):
Men: Sameer Verma bt Kai Schaefer (Ger) 21-14, 16-21, 21-15; Ajay Jayaram bt K. Srikanth 21-6, 21-17.
Women: Saina Nehwal bt Maria Ulitina (Ukr) 21-10, 21-19. Doubles: Gabriela Stoeva & Stefani Stoeva (Bul) N. Sikki Reddy & Ashwini Ponnappa 21-18, 21-14.
Mixed doubles: Goh Soon Huat & Lai Shevon Jemie (Mas) bt Sikki & Pranaav Jerry Chopra 21-16, 17-21, 21-11.
