Saina enters quarterfinal round at Malaysia

India's Saina Nehwal registered a comprehensive victory over Ayane Kurihara of Japan to storm into the quarterfinals of the Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament at Alor Setar on Thursday.

Top seed Saina, who is the only Indian left in the fray, had an easy outing today as she comfortably got the better of her Japnese opponent 21-14, 21-17.

The Hyderabadi will now take on Chinese qualifier Wang Lin, who upset another Japanese, seeded-sixth Eriko Hirose, 21-11, 21-15.

Saina had a forgettable last week as she was handed a shock first-round defeat in the India Open Super Series.