Anupama Bagri/TNN
Mumbai, Nov 28: Ace shuttler Aravind Bhat made his second straight Super Series quarter-final beating local guy Yan Kit Chan 21-14, 21-19 in 32 minutes in Hong Kong on Thursday.
National champion Saina Nehwal, ranked 11th, also advanced to the last eight albeit with a scratchy 21-15, 12-21, 21-13 win over 62nd-ranked Korean qualifier Youn Joo Bae. However, there was some disappointment for India when 14th-ranked Chetan Anand lost 11-21, 12-21 to Chen Jin of China.
Saina next faces local favourite and World No. 8 Wang Chen for a place in the semi-finals. Although Saina trails 1-2 in career meetings against the Asian Games champion, she won their last meeting at the Beijing Olympics in August.
Bhat, who climbed four places in Thursday's list to be placed 37th, will play Thai world No. 16 Boonsak Ponsana for a place in the last four. Ponsana, 26, won the India Open in Hyderabad this April and leads 1-0 against Bhat.
"Boonsak is a good steady player. It's going to be a long match tomorrow," Bhat told TOI later. On winning his first ever meeting against 28th-ranked Chan, Bhat said, "It was a tiring match as we played a lot of long rallies. The shuttles were slower today so we had to play a lot of tosses and drops. May be, I was tactically stronger today."
Once again, the 28-year-old soon-to-be married Bangalorean started off well and pocketed the opening game without any hassle. The second was a fiercely fought contest till 16-all, before Bhat opened a two-point lead which was enough to see him through. If Bhat won without breaking much sweat, Saina had to toil for her victory.
The Beijing quarterfinalist got off to a good start, rattling off nine straight points at 9-all before taking a 1-0 lead. The unfancied Korean came back strongly in the second and at 12-10, she won seven consecutive points before forcing the match into a decider which was Saina's all the way.
"There was a little bit of draught from my side in the second game and my smashes were either hitting the net or landing out. She was also returning all the shuttles which got me tensed," said Saina.