All England badminton: Saina eases into quarter-finals

Third seed Saina Nehwal eased into the women's singles quarter-finals at the All England Championships with a convincing win over South Korean
qualifier Kim Hyo Min at Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham.

World No.3 Saina, who breezed past Indonesia's Bellaetrix Manuputty in the opening round yesterday, beat 48th-ranked Kim 21-15, 21-15 in their first ever meeting.

Saina next faces her nemesis Wang Yihan of China, who enjoys a 8-1 head-to-head lead over the Hyderabad-based player.

Earlier, the Olympic bronze medallist hardly broke a sweat before getting past Indonesia's Bellaetrix Manuputty 21-8, 21-12, while HS Prannoy eked out a hard-fought 16-21, 21-8, 21-18 win over France's Brice Leverdez in the opening round on Wednesday, the latter to play England's Rajiv Ouseph in the second round.

However, top Indian women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa crashed out of the prestigious event with a straight-game defeat against top seeded Chinese duo of Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei in the second round.

There was also heartbreak for World No. 5 K Srikanth and Ajay Jayaram as they failed to cross the first hurdle and crashed out of the competition. P Kashyap had lost in the first round,

While fourth seed Srikanth lost to Kento Momota  of Japan 18-21, 21-12, 15-21 in an hour and six minutes match, Jayaram too fell by the wayside after more than an hour long match against China's Tian Houwei 14-21, 21-19, 14-21.

Men's doubles pair of Manu Attri-B Sumeeth Reddy registered a stunning win over seventh seeded Chinese duo of Chai Biao and Hong Wei.

The 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medal winning pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa also reached the second round of women's doubles competition before their campaign came to a close.

Image: Saina Nehwal

Photograph: Christopher Lee/Getty Images for Falcon