Tournament's women's singles event third-seed, Li Xuerui of China, and seventh-seed Saina Nehwal from India advance to the semifinal stage of the XiamenAir Australian Badminton Open after beating their respective quarterfinal round opponents at the Sports Centre in Sydney on Friday.

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Li, who currently holds the world No. 3 position in the latest BWF world rankings released on Thursday, got the better of sixth-seed compatriot Wang Shixian with a 2-0 victory. The 25-year-old Chongqing-native needed 38 minutes to wrap up the match with a 21-19, 21-17 victory.

Li's win improved her head-to-head record against the 26-year-old Wang to nine victories in their 17 meetings.

The 2012 London Olympics gold medalist got the upper hand against Wang after winning three of their four official matches played this year.

Li will be facing fellow countrywoman Sun Yu for a place in the finals on Saturday. World No. 12 Yu defeated Akane Yamaguchi of Japan 21-18, 21-9 in 41 minutes of badminton action to reach the semifinals round, where Li will be looking to take home her very first Australian Open title.

Meanwhile, India's incumbent world No. 8 Saina Nehwal successfully entered the final four of the Sydney-based World Superseries badminton event after outlasting former world No. 1 Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand. 

The 26-year-old Haryana-native scored a hard-fought two straight 28-26, 21-16 victory over the second-seeded Thailand national that lasted for 56 minutes.

Nehwal, who is gunning for her second Australian Open title, has improved her head-to-head matchup against the 2013 World Championships winner to seven wins in their 12 official encounters.

The 2012 Summer Olympics bronze-medalist will be facing the current world No. 2 and event's fourth-seed Wang Yihan of China in the semifinal round. The Chinese shuttler eliminated Taiwan's Tai Tzu Ying 21-19, 21-15 in their quarterfinal match.

Tagsbwf, bwf rankings, 2016 Australian Open, saina nehwal, Li Xuerui, australian open, badminton