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Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal assured herself of a maiden bronze medal at the World Championships by entering the semifinals of the prestigious annual event at the 9,000-seater-Istora Senayan in Jakarta on Friday.

Saina Nehwal makes a backhand return to China’s Wang Yihan during the women’s singles quarterfinal match at the Badminton World Federation championships at Istora Stadium in Jakarta on Friday.

The second seeded Saina defeated former World Champion Yihan Wang of China 21-15, 19-21, 21-19 in one hour and 12 minutes to advance to the last four where she will take on Indonesian Lindaweni Fanetri.

The Hyderabadi has a 2-1 advantage in career meetings over the unseeded Indonesian.

Earlier, P.V. Sindhu failed to complete a hat-trick of medals at the World Championships after she lost a gruelling quarterfinal women’s singles match against Sung Ji Hyun of South Korea.

Sindhu, seeded 11th, was second best in the battle of attrition, going down 17-21 21-19 16-21 to the eighth seed in a match lasting an hour and 22 minutes.

The 20-year-old India had won back-to-back bronze in the previous editions of the Championships in 2013 and 2014.

The Hyderabadi had raised hopes of a third consecutive medal when she stunned China’s Olympic champion Li Xuerui in the pre-quarterfinals on Thursday.

P.V. Sindhu failed to complete a hat-trick of medals at the World Championships after she lost a gruelling quarterfinal women’s singles match against Sung Ji Hyun of South Korea in Jakarta on Friday.

Star player Saina Nehwal is now India’s sole hope for a medal at the prestigious event. She plays her quarterfinal against Wang Yihan of China later on Friday.

Earlier today, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa also lost to the Japanese duo of Naoko Fukuman and Kurumi Yonao 23-25 14-21 in the women’s doubles quarterfinals. The top-ranked Indian pair failed to convert the chances in the first game before running out of steam to lose in straight games.

Jwala and Ashwini, seeded 13th, had upset eighth seeds Reika Kakiiwa and Miyuki Maeda of Japan to make the quarterfinals.