The opening game saw the Japanese take early control of proceedings as Saina found it difficult to find her groove and went into the break with an 8-point deficit at 3-11. After the interval, the Indian started to find her stripes and began to get back into the match and completed a superb comeback by winning the game 21-18.
After winning the opening game 21-18, Saina continued to pile on the pressure on her opponent in the second game and went into the interval with an 11-9 lead. After the break, Takahashi tried to make a comeback into the match, but at the 13-13 mark, the Indian once again started to assume control of proceedings as she won 3 points on the trot on the trot to go 16-13 up.
She then maintained the advantage over her opponent and eventually closed out the game 21-14 to book a spot in the quarterfinal of the tournament.
Both the Women’s Singles pair have now progressed through to the final 8 of the competition after P V Sindhu pulled off a morale-boosting victory over the third seed Li Xuerui of China in the third round earlier in the day.
Final Scoreline- Saina Nehwal beat Sayaka Takahashi 21-18 21-14
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