Saina reaches quarterfinal of Malaysia Open Super Series

New Delhi, Jan 8: Saina Nehwal fought off a stiff resistance from Hsiao Huan Chen of Chinese Taipei to advance to the quarterfinals of the Malaysian Open Super Series in Kuala Lumpur Thursday.

Saina, seeded fifth, beat Huan Chen 21-16, 19-21, 21-19 in 48 minutes.

She will next play fourth seeded PI Hongyan of France for a place in the semifinal.

Saina is the only Indian left in the tournament as Chetan Anand and Anup Sridhar both lost in the men's singles second round.

Anand lost to Denmark's Peter Gade 7-21, 8-21 while Sridhar went down to Sony DWI Kuncoro of Indonesia.

Also, V. Diju and Jwala Gutta lost to Kien Keat Koo and Hui Lin Ng of Malaysia 18-21, 14-21 in the mixed doubles second round.

--IANS