Saina Nehwal crashes out of French Open Superseries
World No. 2, Saina Nehwal lost to Thailand’s Ratchnok Inthanon 9-21, 15-21 in the quarterfinals of the French Open in Paris on Friday. The loss completed the Indian rout at the Superseries tournament, as Nehwal joined the rest of the contingent on the voyage home.
The match began with both players trading points to 4-4. The Thai world No. 7, however, found her attacking rhythm earlier than Nehwal, who appeared to be content in just keeping the shuttle in play. The ploy backfired soon as Inthanon went on an attacking spree as she ran Nehwal ragged around the court with well-placed smashes.
Nehwal struggled to reach the shuttle, despite appearing to have placed herself in a good position every time. The Thai showed no mercy as she scored 12 points on the trot to reach 18-6 from 6-5 in no time. Despite frequent inputs from coach and former French Open winner, Vimal Kumar, the Hyderabad lass failed to discover her attacking instincts and let the game run away. Although Nehwal managed to wrest back serve at 7-18, with the conclusion foregone, Inthanon played it out at 21-9.
Inthanon, again, grabbed the initiative early in the second game as she raced to a 4-0 lead. Nehwal appeared to finally take the fight to her opponent with some strong attacking shots, but it was a little too late. The former World champion from Thailand looked like she could not put a foot wrong on this day. Despite a better display from the Indian World No. 2 in the second set, Inthanon never lost her grip on the game and comfortably closed it at 21-15.
The win narrows the head-to-head battle between the two as Inthanon closed in at 4-6, after two successive losses to the Indian in the last encounters. Nehwal, who appears to have cut down on her attacking game lately, needs to get back to the drawing board to figure out her game. The Indian appeared vulnerable all through without her trademark smashes, even as she let her opponent dictate the pace. She also appeared to lack on defense as she ran across the court only to fail as she seemed hesitant on that one final stretch.
