Saina edges past Sun to enter last 4
New Delhi, April 3: Newlycrowned world no. 1 Saina Nehwal edged out China’s Sun Yu to reach the women’s singles semifinals at the $ 500,000 Malaysia Open Super Series badminton tournament Friday.
T h e t h i r d seeded Indian eked out a 21- 11, 1821, 21- 17 win over Sun in a quarter- final battle that lasted an hour and 11 minutes at the Putra Stadium in Kuala Lumpur.
The girl from Hyderabad will next take on Olympic champion Li Xuerui, who had withdrawn from the BWF World Super Series last year with an injury and also skipped last week’s India Super Series.
The two- time World Championship silver medallist has defeated Saina eight times, while the Indian has beaten her twice — at the 2010 Singapore Open and the 2012 Indonesia Open.
The Olympic bronze medallist, who had a 2- 1 record going into Friday’s match, stamped her authority right from the start as she didn’t give the Chinese any easy points.
Brimming with confidence after her India Open triumph and ascent to the world no. 1 spot, Saina zoomed to 12- 4 with a eight- point burst and never looked back.
Sun, however, made a flying start in the second game, opening up a 7- 1 lead early on but Saina soon caught up with the Chinese at 14- 14. Sun then slowly started to distance herself from the Indian and made a successful comeback.
A jolted Saina recovered quickly and surged to a 114 lead at the break in the decider. After the interval, Sun reeled off seven straight points from 8- 14 to nose ahead. The duo battled till 17- 17 before the Indian slammed the door with four points on the trot.
Saina has been on a roll since winning the China Open last year. She clinched the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold, reached the final of the All England Championship, before winning the India Super Series last week in Delhi.