India Open: Defending champ Saina storms into semi-final

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.

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.