Saina enters final of Indonesia Masters
JAKARTA: Saina Nehwal made a perfect start to the new season, reaching the women’s singles final of the $350,000 Indonesia Masters with a thrilling straightgame win over world no 4 Ratchanok Inthanon of Thailand on Saturday.
The former world No 1, who has won thrice in Indonesia, dished out a spirited performance to overcome a fighting Ratchanok 21-19, 21-19 in the semifinal lasting 48 minutes.
Saina, who had a 8-5 head-tohead record against the 2013 world champion Ratchanok, displayed tremendous fighting spirit as she erased a 6-10 deficit in the opening game and held on to the fort despite a late charge by the Thai shuttler in the second game.
Saina, who reached the final of an international competition after a year following her title triumph at Malaysia Masters last year, will play world No 1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei or Chinese eighth seed He Bingjiao in the final on Sunday.
In the opening game, Ratchanok opened up a 3-1 lead early on. Saina slowly tried to claw back and produced an excellent return from the back of the court which kissed the sideline to make it 5-5.
However, she erred in her serve and then committed a cou- ple of errors to allow Ratchanok lead 8-5.
KEEN CONTEST
Saina won an exceptional rally next but Ratchanok produced a brilliant straight smash and a cross court drop to move to 10-7. A net dribble gone wrong gave another point to Saina but she went long next as Ratchanok entered the break with a threepoint cushion.
Saina committed another service error but rode on her drop and body line returns to keep within touching distance at 11-13.
She soon drew parity after Ratchanok went wide and then grabbed a 14-13 lead when the Thai player went long.
Ratchanok again turned the tables but Saina clawed back immediately with another body smash after sending a series of returns on her rivals backhand in a rally that had 32 shots.
The Indonesian next won a video referral to move to 16-15. Saina unleashed another down the line smash to again level scores but a half smash on Saina’s backhand kept Ratchanok ahead.
Saina’s return went long but she managed to stay at 18-18 after Ratchanok faltered at the net. The Indian sent a cross court return wide but Ratchanok also hit the net. The Thai player went wide again to hand over one game point opportunity to Saina.