Only for the second time in her stint at All England Open, Saina got company from fellow Indians beyond Round 2 as PV Sindhu buried the ghosts of 2nd round exits and entered her first quarterfinals at England Open. Kashyap was the last Indian besides Saina to have moved beyond Round 2 when he reached QFs. While HS Prannoy perished in his first meet with 7th seed Houwei, Sindhu and Saina, with easy wins entered Quarterfinals where they will meet higher seeds. If both win, they will be setting up a rare all-Indian semifinals at a Super Series event. Both lost in the quarterfinals.
Indian Performances: Round 1, Qualifiers, 2013, 2015, 2016
Saina entered her 8th consecutive Quarterfinals at All England Open. She had been knocked out in first two rounds in her first three attempts (from 2007-09). Since 2009, Saina has entered final in 2015 and semifinals in 2010 and 2013.
Both Knocked out in Quarterfinals
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6th seed Sindhu lost to top seed Tzu Ying (Chinese Taipei) 21-14 21-10 in 34 minutes
8th seed Saina lost to 3rd seed Ji Hyun Sung (Korea) 22-20 22-20 in 54 minutes
Results
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Sindhu def Dinar (Indonesia) 21-12 21-4 in 30 minutes
Saina def Fabienne (Germany) 21-18 21-10 in 35 minutes
HS Prannoy lost to 7th seed Houwei (China) 21-13 21-5 in 33 minutes
Quarterfinals Schedule
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Sindhu will face top seed Tzu Ying (Chinese Taipei), who leads 5-3 in career meets. Sindhu defeated her at Rio Olympics but since then Ying has been improving. She was then ranked 8th and now she is top seed. In between in their last meet, she has defeated Sindhu at Hong Kong Open 2016.
Saina will face 3rd seed Ji Hyun Sung (Korea), unless unseeded Chinese Pui Yin creates an upset today in 2nd Round.
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