Li Xuerei dethrones Saina to clinch China Open title

The last time the duo met was during the semi-finals of the Malaysian Open Super Series in April this year, where the Chinese got the better of Saina in three marathon sets.

The Indian ace, seeded No.1 in the tournament, entered the finals with an impressive win over Wang Yihan in the semi-final, but failed to convert her opportunities today. 

Li Xuerei entered the finals without dropping a single set in the tournament, while defeating her compatriot Wang Shixian in two ephemeral sets in the semi-final. A dominating head-to-head record of 9-2 against Saina was definitely a handy experience to help register her sixth consecutive victory and 10th overall in a dozen encounters between the duo.

The match began with a straight down-the-line smash by Xuerei, to which Saina had no reply. After an exchange of serves, the score was 2-2 but Saina took the next two points to take the lead at 4-2. The Chinese cut short Saina's run by raking in a couple of points to level the score at 4-all. The game proceeded in a rather quick pace, with Saina winning the point with a sharp smash to the body but a service fault by her led to another dead-lock at 5 apiece. The Chinese then staged a very good come-back after another service fault by the Indian, winning the next six points of seven and taking the lead 11-6. Saina changed her plan and played attacking shots, but did not find the sweet spot as many of them landed beyond the line. The Chinese was in complete control of the game at this point leading 13-9. Xuerei did not waste much time and soon closed out the set 21-13  in 16 minutes. 

The second game began with Saina using a new racquet and it seemed to work as she won the first four points to lead 4-0. Saina then squandered her chances in the next two rallies to give away two points but a deceptive drop shot won her the next point to lead 5-2. A missed opportunity by Saina and a cheeky drop from the Chinese took the score to 5-4- marginally in favour of the Indian.

But Saina came back strongly with a mixture of fast smashes and long deceptive points to go ahead 11-5. Saina took the next point but a silly error shifted the momentum of the game completely in favour of the Chinese, as she won 8 consecutive points to take the lead for the first time in the set at 13-12. The game then crawled its way as the two exchanged serves to tie the game at 15-15. A deceptive drop from Xuerui helped her break free and she went on to win the next 6 points to wrap up the game 21-15.

The Chinese shuttler, was in fine touch and out-performed her Indian counter-part to clinch the title in 39 minutes.