Saina in quarterfinals

Indian ace Saina Nehwal progressed to the quarterfinals of the USD 600,000 Korea Open after seeing off Korea's Kim Ga Eun at the BWF World Tour Super 500 tournament here Thursday.

Former world number one, who had won a bronze at the Asian Games and gold at Commonwealth Games this year, defeated Kim Ga Eun 21-18, 21-18 in a 37-minute women's singles pre-quarterfinal.

Fifth seed Saina will cross swords with 2017 world champion and third seed Japanese Nozomi Okuhara. Saina has a 6-3 head-to-head count against the Okuhara but she has lost to the Japanese in the last two meetings.