Sindhu, Nehwal reach Australian Open quarters

Sydney [Australia], June 22 (ANI): Rio-Olympic silver-medallist PV Sindhu produced a spectacular performance as she fended off Chen Xiaoxin of China in straight games to cement her place in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open Super Series here on Thursday.

The fifth-seed remained dominated throughout the match as she clinched a comfortable 21-13, 21-18 win over Xiaoxin in a second-round women's singles clash that lasted 46 minutes at the Sydney Olympic Park.

With the win, Sindhu has now set up a clash against top-ranked Tai Tzu-ying of Taiwan for a place in the last-four.

In another women's singles clash, Indian tennis ace Saina Nehwal also secured a last-eight berth in the tournament after beating Malaysia's Soniia Cheah.

After comfortably winning the first game, Nehwal went down in the second before she bounced back to clinch a 21-15, 20-22, 21-14 triumph over her Malaysian opponent.

Nehwal will now meet sixth-ranked SUN Yu, who made it to the quarter-finals following a 21-14, 21-17 win over Jang Mi LEE of Korea.

Meanwhile, the Indian women's double pair of Ashwini Ponappa and N. Sikki Reddy suffered a major blow as they bowed out of the tournament after going down 21-18, 18-21, 13-21 against the Japanese team of Shiho Tanaka and Koharu Yonemoto in an encounter that lasted one hour and five minutes. (ANI)

This story has not been edited. It has been published as provided by ANI