Kuala Lumpur: World No.1 Saina Nehwal beat Chinese Sun Yu 21-11, 18-21, 21-17 to reach the semi-finals of the $500,000 Malaysia Open Superseries Premier at the Putra Stadium on Friday.
In the next match on Saturday, Olympic bronze medallist Saina will meet reigning Olympic champion Li Xuerui.
Li Xuerui battled past former World champion Yihan Wang 14-21, 21-15, 21-12 in 55 minutes.
Earlier, Saina Nehwal reached the quarter-finals while men's singles shuttlers H.S. Prannoy and Parupalli Kashyap suffered crushing defeats in the second round of the $500,000 Malaysia Open Superseries Premier at the Putra Stadium here on Thursday.
Olympic bronze medallist Saina registered a facile 21-13, 21-9 win in 30 minutes against Chinese qualifier Xue Yao in the second round of the women's singles event.
