India's badminton superstar Saina Nehwal has advanced to the quarterfinal round of the ongoing Dong Feng Citroen Asia Badminton Championships in Wuhan, China on Thursday.

Nehwal, who is the first female Indian national to ever become the world No. 1 badminton player, defeated Nitchaon Jindapol of Thailand in two straight sets 21-14, 21-18 and recorded her unblemished seventh successive triumph over the Thai shuttler, who currently holds the 25^th spot in the world.

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The tournament's fifth-seeded Nehwal, an Olympic bronze medalist in the 2012 London Games in the women's singles event, wrapped up the match in just 45 minutes as she opened up an early lead in both of the sets played against the 25-year-old Jindapol.

With the win, the 26-year-old world No. 8 will take on the tourney's third seeded and current world No. 5 Chinese Shixian Wang for the competition's semifinals berth.

The 26-year-old Wang beat world No. 24 Pai Yu Po of the Chinese Taipei 21-14, 21-15.

Nehwal has won the six matches against Wang in their 13 encounters so far with the Indian losing the last two matches they played.

In the other matches of the day, P.V. Sindhu suffered a close 21-13, 20-22, 8-21 defeat against Tai Tzu Ying of the Chinese Taipei in a match that lasted an hour.

Women's singles event top seed Li Xuerui of China managed to win a hard-fought battle against the Japanese Akane Yamaguchi. The current world No. 3 won the opening set, but Yamaguchi came back and claimed the second set. The Chinese ace prevailed in the decider and closed the match with a 21-16, 18-21, 21-19 victory.

In the men's singles draw, China's current world No. 2 Lin Dan brushed aside Tien Minh Nguyen of Vietnam in two straight sets 21-13, 21-11, while Chen Long, the incumbent world No.1, defeated Zulfadli Zulkiffli of Malaysia 21-12, 21-10.

Tagsbwf rankings, bwf 2016, saina nehwal, Lin Dan, Chen Long, asia badminton championships