Saina Nehwal thwarts Juliane Schenk’s challenge to enter final-Saturday, Dec 11, 2010

Saina Nehwal thwarts Juliane Schenk’s challenge to enter final

Published: Saturday, Dec 11, 2010, 19:46 IST | Updated: Saturday, Dec 11, 2010, 23:35

By Dev S Sukumar | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA

(GOOD WISHES TO HER FOR FINALS...VIBHA)


Saina Nehwal
World No 4 Saina Nehwal reached her third Super Series final of the year with a hard-fought victory over world No 6 Juliane Schenk of Germany.

Saina overcame the loss of the second game to get past Schenk in the semifinal of the Hong Kong Super Series, 21-19 17-21 21-9 and booked a date against Asian Games champion Wang Shixian of China.

Meanwhile, in other action, veteran Indonesian Taufik Hidayat continued to astonish, with a semifinal victory over China Open champion Chen Long.

Hidayat will face world No 1 Lee Chong Wei in the final, after Chong Wei had disposed off Vietnamese Nguyen Tien Minh. Hidayat, the No 3 seed, has beaten no top Chinese in the last three years but turned the clock back with a 15-21 21-11 21-19 result over Chen Long.

Saina had a head-to-head record of 4-2 going into the match, including a victory in the All England quarterfinals. Schenk led for much of the first game, even going up 12-8, but Saina steadily climbed back and levelled at 12. The German again charged ahead and seemed to have a decisive lead at 17-13, but the Indian took four points in a row and powered through to take the first game.

Undeterred, Schenk kept up the pressure in the second set, and established a 15-9 lead midway through, before sealing it
21-11.

The final game, however, was all Saina’s as the Indian powered ahead from the start. Saina shot ahead 11-3 and 13-6, and although the German took three points in a row to narrow the gap to 9-13, Saina won the next six points to put the match beyond doubt.

This is Saina’s third Super Series final and fourth overall after she won the Singapore and Indonesian Super Series earlier this year. Saina lost her last encounter against Wang Shixian, 21-8 21-14 in the quarterfinals of the World Championships in August.

“The final will be a tough match because Shixian is in good form. It has been a fantastic year for Saina and will have to see how she plays on Sunday. She has been very consistent and has done well in bigger events and am happy overall,” national coach and Saina’s mentor Pullela Gopichand said.

“She missed out of at least five Super Series this year because the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games were more important events but it also means that she missed out of some events which otherwise could have taken her to the No 1 spot. But it doesn’t matter, what matters is the number of wins,” he added.