The tournament's fifth seeded and the incumbent world No. 8 Saina Nehwal of India successfully has advanced to the semifinal round of the ongoing Dong Feng Citroen Asia Badminton Championships in Wuhan, China on Friday. The badminton superstar of India eked out a 21-16, 21-19 victory against the former world champion Shixian Wang of China in the women's singles event. The quarterfinal showdown between the two elite shuttlers lasted 56 minutes in a battle of long rallies.

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The 26-year-old Indian badminton star was able to replicate her impressive game performance against Nitchaon Jindapol of Thailand in her pre-quarterfinal triumph on Thursday. Nehwal started strongly in the first game and capitalized on several weaker returns from her opponent to pull away with the straight sets victory.

Nehwal, who was a 2012 London Olympics bronze medalist in the women's singles event, will be facing the event's sixth seed and world No. 6 Yihan Wang of China, who outlasted the current world No.4 and second seeded Japanese Nozomi Okuhara with an 8-21, 21-13, 21-19 victory.

Meanwhile in the other matches of the tournament, men's doubles top seeded duo of Lee Yong Dae and Yoo Yeon Seong of the South Korea defeated the Chinese pair of Liu Xiaolong and Qiu Zihan. The Koreans won the first game but the Chinese duplet bounced back and took the second set and even the match, but the top seeded pair prevailed in the decider and wrapped up the match with a 21-11, 18-21, 21-18 victory that took an hour and 13 minutes.

Top seed and reigning world No. 1 Chen Long of China continued his winning run by beating the seventh seed and world No. 8 Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia in two straight sets of 21-16, 21-14, lasting 56 minutes.

The dynamic Chinese tandem of Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei defeated the pair of Kim Gi Jung and Shin Seung Chan of the South Korea in the mixed doubles event. The top seeded Chinese pair claimed the 21-14, 21-10 victory in just 30 minutes.

Tagsbwf 2016, BWF World rankings, saina nehwal, Chen Long, asia badminton championships, shixian wang