PTI
 
New Delhi, May 27: Teenage starlet Saina Nehwal stunned world No. 4 and top seed Xu Huaiwen of Germany to blast into the semifinals of the Philippines Open Badminton Championship at Pasig City.

Saina pulled off the biggest upset of her career with a 12-21 21-17 21-17 win to become the first ever Indian women to reach the last four stage of a four star event on Friday.

 The 16-year-old Indian won the gruelling battle in 53 minutes against the Chinese born shuttler and set up a clash with Ai Gota of Japan, who prevailed 21-12 18-21 21-17 over Fransisca Ratnasari of Indonesia.

The 87th ranked Hyderabadi shuttler, coached by former All England Badminton Champion Pullela Gopichand, has been in stupendous form in the tournament as she had also packed off world number 31 S Mudukesan in the opener followed by a victory over Sachiyo Imai of Japan.

Gopichand rated Saina’s victory as a big achievement for Indian badminton.

"It is really fantastic. Beating the world no four and entering the semifinals of the four-star event is really very great," Gopichand told PTI over telephone from Hyderabad.

"She (Saina) has a fair chance of reaching the finals. She is playing a Japanese girl and going by the way she has performed she should be able to win the match, provided she has not given everything in Friday’s match.

"Her win will serve as an inspiration to youngsters in the team and give them confidence to take on the top players in world without any fear."