Korea Open: Saina Nehwal breezes into quarter-final by defeating Kim Ga Eun of South Korea

Former world number one Saina Nehwal booked her spot in the quarter-final of the ongoing Korea Open by defeating Kim Ga Eun of South Korea in the pre-quarters of the women's singles event here on Thursday.

The 28-year-old thrashed her South Korean opponent 21-18, 21-18 in a clash that lasted 36 minutes.

Displaying a dominating performance in the match, the Indian shuttler did not break much sweat as she registered a convincing win in both the games.

Making a strong start to the first game, Nehwal opened with a dominating 6-1 lead. As the scoreline reached 10-2 in India's favour, the South Korean earned four consecutive points to lessen the point gap to 10-6.

Ga Eun continued with her attacking shots and made a spectacular comeback by leveling the game 16-16. Following the setback, Indian shuttler rose to the occasion and collected three back to back points to again shift the momentum to her side by clinching the game 21-18.

The second game started on the same note as the first one but this time it was the South Korean shuttler who ran away with an initial lead of five points. Putting up a hard fight on the court, Nehwal clinched back to back points to level the scores at 13-13.

The Indian shuttler did not look back after that and went on to take the game 21-18.

Nehwal is the only Indian left in the tournament after Sameer Verma and Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka crashed out on Wednesday.

-ANI