Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal hardly showed any fatigue from a recent bout of chickenpox as she stormed into the pre-quarterfinals of World Badminton Championships with a straight-game victory over Russian Anastasia Prokopenko here today. The 20-year-old,who was laid low by chicken pox just a few days before the championship,outplayed her rival 21-10 21-17 in 27 minutes in the women's singles second round. The local favourite faces Bulgarian Petya Nedelcheva tomorrow. Among other Indians,men's doubles pair of Akshay Dewalkar and Jishnu Sanyal squandered a position of strength to go down 21-17 13-21 18-21 against 16th seed Vitalij Durkin and Alexandr Nikolaenko of Russia in 40 minutes. Meanwhile,top seed Mi Zhou of Hong Kong beat Kiwi Michelle Chan Ky 21-11 21-15,while men's number one seed Chong Wei Lee beat Ola Fagbemi of Nigeria 21-11 21-14. Mercurial world number four Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia defeated Mathieu Lo Ying Ping 21-17 21-15 in another me 's singles encounter. Sixth seed Saina,who got a bye in the first round,started aggressively and opened up a 12-8 lead in little time. Leading 16-8 after that,Saina smashed five straight points to pocket the first game easily. However,she struggled a bit in the next game as a change of ends led to slower drift for her. In a battle of nerves,the two rivals went neck and neck from 5-5 to 14-14 but after a see-saw battle,it was the Hyderabadi who had the last laugh. "In the first game,the drift was fast so I played a more attacking game and hit more smashes. She couldn't pick up those but in the same game I was on the other side,so knowing the wind I involved her in some long rallies," Saina told reporters. "I have played her for the first time but yesterday I saw her play. She has some good drives. I was confident about my game and I am happy that I started on the right note," she added. The world number six Indian also asserted she was completely fit. "I am fit and I didn't feel too tired. She was an okay player but tomorrow I play a much tougher opponent,my fitness will be tested," she said. About the ubiquitous crowd which cheered her every move,Saina said she was hoping for the spectator-count to go up with every match. "It wasn't very different. I wasn't tense but I think it's good for the game that so many people are cheering the players. It has been a very good support and I hope more crowds will turn up tomorrow," she said.
