Hot favourite Saina Nehwal cruised into the quarterfinals as Indian shuttlers extended their winning run in the individual badminton tournament of the Commonwealth Games here today.
Top seed Saina spanked Nigerian Caroline Black 21-0 21-2, while Aditi beat Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland 21-11 21-17 in 24 minutes.
Sixth seed P Kashyap kept his hopes alive of a maiden medal by beating Kieran Merrilees of Scotland 21-12 21-15, while third seed Chetan Anand thrashed Jamie Van Hooijdonk 21-8 21-2 in another pre-quarterfinals match in New Delhi.
Jwala Gutta and V Diju beat fellow Indian pairs Rupesh Kumar and Ashwini Ponnappa 15-21 21-18 21-16 in a 25-minute battle but it was all over for Sanave Thomas and Aparna Balan as they lost 15-21 18-21 to Chris Adcock and Gabby White in another 28-minute match.
World number three Saina was too hot to handle for Caroline Black and the Northern Ireland player couldn't put up any fight to the Indian, going down 21-0 21-2 in the pre-quarterfinals match.
The pressure of playing the world number three got to Black as all her returns went either outside or to the nets as she drew a blank in the first game. In the second game too she could manage just two points, which was cheered by the crowd.
"It was an easy match. She was very nervous. I can understand it is difficult to for her to play against me. I tried to play some rallies in the second game but she was hitting the shuttles out," Saina said after the match.
Aditi had a walk in the park in the first game but in the second she looked edgy and the Pune girl admitted that she needs to be more consistent if she has to realise her dream of a medal here.
"I have not attacking enough today. I need to be more aggressive and play more consistently. I lost concentration in between games but otherwise I played well," she said.
P Kashyap played an array of strokes and looked in good touch during his straight-game victory over Merrilees.
"I played fast and quick today. My flicks were coming good and I was relaxed," he said.
