Indian badminton star Saina Nehwal cruised into the second round of the women’s singles at the Asian Games after beating Lydia Cheah of Malaysia in the second round on Wednesday.

Saina took only 28 minutes to beat Lydia in direct sets of 21-15, 21-17. She will now play against  the winner between Yip Pui Yin of Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei’s Ma Hsiao Pai in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

The second-seed Indian held her serve for most of the time and scored points through her smashes in the first game. She was also better at the net.

Saina opened up a 6-1 lead swiftly but Lydia narrowed the gap to 10-12. But the Indian was not bothered much and pocketed the first game easily.

In the next game, Saina again raced to a comfortable 6-1 lead before moving to 20-11 but the Indian squandered six match points before closing the match.