Malaysia Open: Saina fights back to reach semis; Sindhu disappoints

ByAmlan Majumdar, SportsCafe Editor

04/08/2016

Saina Nehwal came back from a set down to defeat Porntip Buranaprasertsuk 19-21, 21-14, 21-14 to book a place in the semi-final of the Malaysia Open on Friday. However, India's other hope in the women's draw, P V Sindhu, was knocked out by Ratchanok Intanon after a disappointing performance.

Fourth-seeded Intanon was the favourite heading into the match, having a 3-1 head-to-head record against P V Sindhu, and she made short work of her opponent in the opening set. The Thai shuttler made a fine start to the match with some lovely placements of her smashes to take a 6-3 lead, and the Indian star struggled defensively to deal with Intanon's aggressive play.

Sindhu's attempted drop shots at the net were too high, and Intanon was quick to pounce on everyone of them as she extended her lead to 15-5. The only thing which worked for Sindhu on the night was her cross-court smashes, and Intanon did not allow her the opportunity to pull out too many of those. The 20-year-old lost her bearings completely, and at 19-6 she missed a glorious chance to hit a smash at the net, but somehow managed to hit it out of the court, to handover a host of game points to her opponent. Intanon won the first set 21-7 in the end.

The one-sided nature of the game continued in the second set as well, and Intanon once again won it comfortably 21-8 to knock Sindhu out of the tournament.

In another court, third-seeded Saina Nehwal took on another Thai shuttler Porntip Buranaprasertsuk. Saina was caught off-guard by her opponent in the opening game, as the World No. 22 raced to a 14-9 lead. However, Saina stepped up her game and won five points in a row to level the score. A closely-fought battle ensued after that, with Porntip coming out at the top in the end at 21-19.

That proved to be a wake up call for Saina, and she dominated the second set to win it 21-14, and took the match to a third set. Porntip showed some resistance in the final set and was only trailing by a point at 11-10, however Saina went up through her gears and conceded just two more points to win the set 21-14, and with it the match.

Saina will now face Chinese Taipei shuttler Tai Tzu Ying, ranked no. 9 in the world, in the semi-final on Saturday.