Nanjing: Two-time women’s singles World Champion, Carolina Marin of Spain pulled through against 15th seed Sayaka Sato 21-7, 21-13 in the World Championships third round and will play India’s Saina Nehwal in a mouthwatering showdown on Friday.
Marin was in complete control in both games against Sato, needed only 32 minutes to reach the quarter-finals.
Nehwal, on the other hand, defeated the 2013 World Champion, Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand 21-16, 21-19.
In another women’s singles third round competition, World No. 1 Tai made a blistering run to overcome Zhang Beiwen of the United states 21-19, 21-14 in what seems to be an inexorable march to her first world title.
The victory brought Tai’s winning streak in major tournaments to 31 matches in a row, breaking the record for the most consecutive wins in women’s badminton singles tournaments held by Li Xuerui of China since 2012.
Tai will meet No. 6 seed He Bingjiao in the last eight.
Meanwhile, in a rematch of last year’s World Championships final, Nozomi Okuhara of Japan and PV Sindhu of India are set to cross swords one more time this year. Both players played the second longest match in the history of badminton, lasting 110 minutes, in the final of 2017 World Championships.
Badminton fans around the world are anticipating another epic battle between Okuhara and Sindhu on Friday.
