Defending champion Saina Nehwal and rising star Arundhati Pantawane have advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of Thailand Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament. In Bangkok today, while World No 2 Saina prevailed over Shih Han Hung of Chinese Taipei in straight games 21-11 21-16, Nagpur shuttler Arundhati defeated Min Ji Lee of Korea in three games 14-21 21-9 21-15 in a 45-minute battle. Sania will next take on Febby Angguni of Indonesia in the second round tomorrow. Arundhati will next meet the winner of fifth seed Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand and Yeni Asmarani of Indonesia. In men's singles, Sai Praneeth B, fifth seed Ajay Jayaram, HS Prannoy, eighth seed Sourabh Verma, 10th seed Anand Pawar and 13th seed K Srikanth reached the second round.