After her morale-boosting win against Shixian Wang yesterday, Saina Nehwal made it two wins in two at the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Super Series Finals in Dubai by beating Ji Hyun Sung of South Korea.
She started the tournament on a good note, having won her first match against a formidable Chinese opponent, Shixian Wang 21-17, 21-18. Buoyed by her success against the World No. 3, Saina made short work of Sung and won her second consecutive match in Group A of the tournament. She beat the Korean 21-12, 21-18.
Saina had a pretty straight-forward first game as she took an early lead and went into the break leading 11-4. The Indian did not let the Korean get back and quickly wrapped up the game at 21-12.
The message from the Korean camp in the second game was quite clear – do not let Saina Nehwal take the lead. Sung executed that well in the initial stages, but at 4-4, Saina displayed great composure to take a two-point lead and headed into the break at 11-9.
Sung did close Saina’s lead to 1 at 17-16 and later at 19-18, but the World number 4 was in no mood to relinquish the advantage as the took two straight points to wrap up the game and the match.
This means that Saina has won both her matches in Group A, and will face Yeon Ju Bae in the final group game having almost qualified for the semifinals.
Saina had gone into the tournament in good form having won three major titles in the calendar year – Indian Open Grand Prix, Australian Super Series and the China Open Super Series.
