India Open: Defending champ Saina storms into semi-final
Defending champion and second seed Saina Nehwal entered the semi-final of the India Open Super Series tournament on Friday after defeating Sung Ji Hyun of South Korea in a tight contest. Although Saina lost the first game 19-21, she bounced back winning the next two 21-14, 21-19 to enter the semis.
After defeating Nitchaon Jindapol of Thailand in the pre-quarters yesterday, defending champion Saina Nehwal went into the quarter-final match against fifth seed Korean Sung Ji Hyun with a 5-1 head-to-head record. Saina started the match on a positive note winning the opening point of the game with a drop from the mid-court to outfox the Korean. With the crowd at Siri Fort fully behind the Indian ace, it looked easy for Saina in the opening moments as she took a 3-1 lead.
But it all changed in a matter of minutes as Sung Ji Hyun upped the pace of the game, to make the Indian run left, right and centre. With her movement still hampered by the Achilles injury, the World No.6 lost the initial momentum and got caught mid-court many a time with the Korean placing the shuttle to the left and right of the Indian. Although Saina produced a late comeback, Sung Ji Hyun looked the more comfortable on the court to go into the break with a one-point lead.
With Sung Ji Hyun playing for longer rallies in an attempt to tire the Indian, Saina changed her gameplan a bit after the break and went for first-time smashes to catch the Korean on the wrong foot. Although the tactic worked initially with Saina taking a 14-11 and then a 17-14 lead, Sung Ji Kyun moved forward in the latter half to curtail Saina’s smashes and won six points in a row to reach game point. Although, the World No.6 saved the first two game points to make it 20-19, a misjudgment in the next point gave Sung Ji Hyun the opening game with a 21-19 scoreline.
The second game started in a similar fashion as the first with Saina taking an early lead. With the score at 3-1, Sung Ji Hyun hurt her right leg going for a jump smash. The injury slowed the Korean down a bit, and Saina cashed in on the opportunity by playing longer rallies and collected points to go to the break with an 11-7 lead. The story followed a similar script after the break as the 2012 Olympics bronze medallist scored points with ease with the fifth-seeded Korean committing mistake after mistake. The World No.8 put in a spirited effort as the game drew to a close, but Saina's lead was too far ahead, and the World No.6 took the game 21-14 after the Korean placed her return into the net.
In the third and final game, surprisingly it was the Korean, who had the better start as she took a 5-1 lead by dominating the initial exchanges. But the Indian raced back to the top by reverting back to the tactic of first-time smashes. Although Saina went into the break with an 11-7 lead, Sung Ji Hyun showed much better movement after the break and went into a 14-12 lead with the Korean’s cross court smashes catching Saina on the wrong foot. Both players upped their game in the final stretch and matched each other shot for shot and point for point in an attempt to make it to the last four. The Korean looked the favourite with the score at 17-15, but Saina won three successive points to go into an 18-17 lead. Although the Korean levelled it by winning the next point, Saina went to match point securing the next two points, before finishing it with a cross-court smash to win the match.Â
The second-seeded Indian will next face third seed Li Xuerui from China in the semis on Saturday.
Update 1: But World No.11 P V Sindhu continued her poor form as she lost to World No. 15 Bae Yeon Ju of South Korea to crash out of the event. Sindhu won the first set after taking an early lead of 6-1 and then staving off a comeback from Yeon Ju. But she trailed for the most part in the second and third sets to lose the match 21-15, 15-21, 15-21.