SAINA sails into All England finals

Saina Nehwal scripted history by reaching the finals of the All England Badminton Championship with win over Sun Yu of China in the women's singles competition.

The World No. 3 Indian, who reached the semifinals of the event in 2010 and 2013, defeated the unseeded Sun 21-13 21-13 in a match that lasted for 50 minutes at the Barclaycard Arena.

Saina is now just one step away from joining Indian legends Prakash Padukone (1980) and P Gopichand (2001) who have bagged the prestigious title in the past.

After disposing Yihan Wang of China, Saina was faced with the task of taming Sun, who had seen off the likes of Nichaon Jindapon, Li Xuerui and Ratnachok Intanon over the last three days.

Saina, who had beaten Sun at the Australian Open in June last year, lagged 0-2 behind early on as Sun showed her intent to move to 4-1. A couple of quick points and Sun led 6-1, but Saina soon drew her rival in long drawn battle of rallies, as she scripted her recovery to move to 8-10 before the Chinese surged ahead into the break with a slender 1110 lead.

After the interval, Saina changed her tactics and was soon rewarded with a couple points as she stretched her lead to 16-12. The Hyderabadi sealed it when the Chinese hit the shuttle hard and long. In the second game, Sun lead but Saina her powerful smashes.

She kept the pressure on the Chinese drawing her close to the net and capitalising on her better net play. The result was Sun faltered on the forecourt, committed a number of unforced errors, hitting wide and long.

Next Sun found the net as Saina walked her way to the history book. A jubilant Saina threw her racquet to the crowd, celebrating her place at the finals.