Saina, Verma enter quarterfinals of Denmark Open

Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal defeated world number two Akane Yamaguchi of Japan for the first time in four years to enter the women's singles quarterfinals of the Denmark Open here on Thursday.

Later in the day, more good news was in store of India as Sameer Verma held his nerve to beat Asian Games champion Jonathan Christie to reach the men's singles quarterfinals.

The ninth-ranked Indian let go of three match points in the deciding game before pulling off a 23-21, 6-21, 22-20 win over the world number 12 from Indonesia.

Nehwal, however, won her second round match rather convincingly. The Olympic bronze-medallist, who has dropped to 27 in the latest world rankings, registered an easy 21-15, 21-17 win over second-seeded Yamaguchi.

The 28-year-old Indian will now take on world number three and another Japanese, Nozomi Okuhara, in the quarterfinals on Friday.

This was Nehwal's second career win over Yamaguchi, who has won six times in the head-to-head encounters between the ...