Saina in semis, Srikanth bows out
Kuala Lumpur, Jan. 18: Saina Nehwal scripted a hard-fought straight-game win over former world champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan to enter the women’s singles semifinals but a fighting Kidambi Srikanth crashed out of the $350,000 Malaysia Masters here on Friday.
Seventh seeded Saina, who had a 8-4 head-to-head record against Okuhara before Friday, fought back from 9-15 and 14-18 down in the two games to extend her dominance over the second-seeded Japanese with a 21-18, 23-21 win in a
48-minute quarterfinals at the Axiata Arena.
The 28-year-old from Hyderabad will face a tough test next when she faces three-time world champion Carolina Marin of Spain on Saturday.
However, Srikanth squandered a one-game advantage to go down 23-21, 16-21,
17-21 to fourth seed Korean Son Wan Ho in the men’s singles quarterfinals that lasted an hour and 12 minutes.
The women’s singles match started on an even keel as both Saina and Okuhara fought hard, moving together till 9-9. Okuhara registered six straight points to create a huge gap but Saina showed her mettle as she slowly erased the deficit and grabbed a 17-16 lead at one stage. Okuhara made it 1717 before Saina closed out the opening game by grabbing the remaining points.
The Indian was 4-2 up early on in the second game but Okuhara jumped to a 8-5 lead before Saina wrested a 11-9 advantage at the break. After the interval, Saina led till 14-12 but Okuhara reeled off six points to take a comfortable 18-14 lead. But Saina again slowly started dominating the rallies and clawed her way back to 1919. Okuhara then squandered two game points before Saina converted the first match point that came her way.
Srikanth, who was on an unbeaten run at the recently-concluded Premier Badminton League, had recovered from a 4-11 deficit to pocket the first game but he couldn’t breach a 4-9 gap in the second game to allow Son to take the game into the decider.
The seventh seeded Indian then wasted a 5-1 advantage in the third game to allow Son march ahead after leading 11-10 at the break. —