Birmingham:Â Indian ace Saina Nehwal sailed into the All England Championships semi-final after beating her Chinese nemesis Wang Yihan for the first time in more than two years.
The third seeded Indian prevailed 21-19 21-6 in a 39-minute contest against the fifth seed, who had an intimidating 8-1 overall record against Saina before the match.
Saina will now face another Chinese Sun Yu in the last-four stage. Yu advanced after her Thai rival, eighth seed Ratchanok Intanon, retired midway through the match with the Chinese player leading 21-11 19-21 19-13.
It was an impressive performance by Saina in her quarter-final match as she got past Yihan, whose only previous loss to the Indian was forced by injury.
The opening game was a neck and neck battle but Saina kept her composure to outwit Yihan and take the early initiative.
The second game was Saina all the way as Yihan crumbled rather inexplicably.
The performance also helped the 24-year-old Saina to equalled her best showing at the prestigious Superseries event. Saina, who has entered the last four previously in 2010, however secured a statement-making victory against Yihan who she has most struggled to beat in her career. For a place in the final, Saina will meet World No.18 Sun Yu of China.
“I’m happy with how I played. My strokes were good. We have had great fights in the past and I have a poor record against her so it’s unbelievable I was able to beat her with less than 10 points in the second game,” Nehwal said after the match.
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(With inputs from agencies)