Hailed as India's badminton hope, Saina Nehwal lived up to expectations while demolishing the challenge posed by Maharashtra's Trupti Murgunde 11-7, 9-11, 11-0 in the quarter-finals of the ladies singles in the NSCI Senior All-India Major prize-money badminton tournament, sponsored by the National Sports Club of India at their courts in Mumbai on Wednesday.

Her giant-bashing act seemed to have inspired Karnataka's Anup Sridhar, who then sent Sachin Ratti, the second seed in the men's singles, packing. Sridhar won 15-5, 15-3.

The other matches in the men's quarter-finals were also not without drama. Top seed and India No. 1 Abhin Shyam Gupta of PSCB struggled to come to grips with the aggression showed by Railway's Hemant Duggal and lost the first game 11-15, before getting into his rhythm and wearing down his opponent to win the next two 15-2, 15-4.

In the semi-finals, Gupta takes on fourth seed J B S Vidyadhar, who beat Arvind Bhatt 15-8, 15-12, while Sridhar will meet Nikhil Kanetkar, who stopped the fine run of S D S Krishna while winning 15-7, 15-4.

Sridhar, a former Junior French Open champion used attack as his strategy against Ratti and it worked wonders as the Railways shuttler failed to counter the barrage that came his way. Whether the second seed was playing at his best is a matter of debate, but he never seemed to be in the game.

Saina, who just turned 13 in March, outplayed Trupti, ranked No. 4 in the country 11-7, 9-11, 11-0. The complete domination of Trupti in the third game spoke volumes about Saina's mental strength and control over the shuttle as she smashed powerfully, played drop shots delicately and just about tied Trupti knots, no pushover herself.

Sania next runs into the second seed Shruti Kurien, who made short work of C H Deepti, winning 11-5, 11-4. The other semi-final will feature top seed B R Meenakshi against Manjusha Kanwar, both from PSCB.

While Meenakshi disposed off the challenge from MP's Neha Makwana 11-2, 11-9, Manjusha brought all her experience to the fore while quelling the challenge of young Jwala Gutta 11-5, 11-3.

Saina, the under-13 National champion, who trains under former National coach S M Arif displayed tremendous stamina, court craft and power too, skills she attributed to her daily four-hour training under Arif.

"I expected to make the quarter-finals, but I am still pleased with my performance. I have beaten Shruti in practice, but I do not want to predict the outcome this time around." Saina, incidentally, is also the National runner-up in the under-16 and under-19 age groups, besides holding the doubles titles in the under-16 and under-19.

Following are the results (seedings in parenthisis)

Men's singles (quarter-finals):

4-JBS Vidhyadhar (Rlys) bt Arvind Bhatt (PSCB) 15-8, 15-12; 1-Abhinn Shyam Gupta (PSCB) b Hemant Duggal (Rlys) 11-15, 15-2, 15-4; Anup Sridhar (Ktk) bt Sachin Ratti (Rlys) 15-5, 15-3, Nikhil Kanetkar (PSCB) b SDS Krishna (AP) 15-7, 15-4

Women's singles (quarter finals):

Manjusha Kanwar (PSCB) bt Jwala Gutta (PSCB) 11-5, 11-3; 1-B R Meenakshi (PSCB) bt Neha Makhwana (MP) 11-2, 11-9; 2-Shruti Kurien (PSCB) bt C H Deepti (PSCB) 11-5, 11-4; Sania Nehwal (AP) bt Trupti Murgunde (Mah) 11-7, 9-11, 11-0.

Men's singles (2st round): 1-Abhin Shyam Gupta (PSCB) bt C M Shashidhar (Rlys) 15-11, 15-9; Hemant Duggal (Rlys) bt Amar Mohite (Mah) 15-11, 15-5; 4-J B S Vidyadhar (Rlys) bt Joy T Antony (Kerala) 9-15, 15-2, 15-4; Arvind Bhatt (PSCB) bt Jibi Vargese (Rlys) 15-6, 5-15, 15-9; Nikhil Kanetkar (PSCB) bt Prashant Bhatare (Mah) 15-1, 15-5; S D S Krishna (AP) bt Siddharth Jain (PSCB) 15-11, 15-10; Anup Shridhar (Ktk) bt Mayur Ghatnekar (Mah) 15-3, 15-4; 2-Sachin Ratti (Rlys) bt K. Srinivasan (AP) 15-8, 15-5.

Ladies singles (2nd round): 1-B.R.Meenakshi (PSCB) bt Poonam Tiwari (Rlys) 11-5, 11-4; Neha Makwana (MP) bt Soumya Padhye (Rajasthan) 11-1, 11-2; Manjusha Kanwar (PSCB) bt Palkan Nagori (Rlys) 11-0, 7-11, 11-8; Jwala Gutta (PSCB) bt Sampada Ghatnekar (Rlys) 11-7, 11-2; Saina Nehwal (AP) bt Pooja Patil (Ktk) 11-2, 11-4; Trupti Murgunde (Mah) bt Aparna Balan (Ker) 11-0, 11-3; C. H. Deepthi (PSCB) bt Archana Deodhar (Mah) 11-3, 11-8; Shruti Kurian (PSCB) bt Aditi Biswas (Ktk) 11-1, 11-9.

Women's Doubles (1st round) : Poonam Walimbe (Mah) & Vinaya Shetty (Mah) bt C.H. Deepthi (PSCB) & Saina Nehwal (AP) 15-6, 15-9; Soumya Padhye (Rajastan) & Maitreyee Nigwekar (Mah) bt Ruta Pitke (Mah) & Diva Arora (Mah) 16-17, 15-11, 15-12; Aparna Balan (Ker) & Dhanya Nair (Mah) bt Neha Rane (Mah) & Sonal More (Mah) 15-2, 15-9.

Men's Doubles (1st round) : 1-Rupesh Kumar (Ker) & Marcos Bristow (PSCB) bt Kunal Makwana (MP) & Vicky Jaiswal (MP) 15-4, 15-5; J. B. S. Vidyadhar (Rlys) & Mitesh Hazarnis (Rlys) bt B. G. Kiran (Ktk) & Pallav Deka (Asm) 15-3, 15-5; Ajit Wijetilak (Ktk) & Jose George (Ktk) bt Tarun Chavvan (Rlys) & Nimesh Goel (Rlys) 15-6, 15-6; Siddharth Jain (PSCB) & Vijay Lancy (PSCB) bt Amrish Shinde (Mah) & Amar Mohite (Mah) 15-10, 15-10; Sanve Thomas (Ker) & V. Diju ( Rlys) bt Varun Khanwalkar (Mah) & Utsav Mishra (UP) 15-2, 15-4; K. A. Anish (Ktk) & George (Ker) bt Milind Ghate (Mah) & Bhushan Akut (Mah) 15-9, 15-7; 2-Jasel Ismail (PSCB) & Jaisen Xavier (Ker) bt K. Srinivasan(AP) & Vinay Kumar (AP) 15-1, 15-6; Mayur Ghatnekar (Mah) & Akshay Thakkar (Mah) bt A. Venkatesh (TN) & Savan Nawaz (Ker) 15-8, 16-17, 15-7.

Earlier Report