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Saina in Action at the Indonesian Open
Saina Nehwal progressed into the Quarter final of the Indonesian Open Super Series with a 21-18, 21-9 victory over Petya Nedelcheva of Bulgaria in Jakarta on Thursday. Defending her title Saina overcame the Bulgarian in just 31 minute.
After failing to defend her Singapore Open title last week, the 21 year old Indian faced stiff opposition from Petya in the first game. Petya was infact up 17-15 at one point before Saina upped her tempo to overtake her 20-17. In the second game Petya did oppose a little and Saina wrapped up the game soon.
Saina, who enjoys a 5-2 head-to-head record over the Bulgarian said that she expected to win this tie. “I was expecting to win this. Though it’s easy, a victory always motivates me a lot,” Saina said.
Saina, who managed to retain her World No. 4 ranking despite failing to defend her Singapore Open title, will be excited about the fact that World No 1 Shixian Wang and World No 2 Wang Xin (both from China) made a shocking early exit from the tournament. Shixian Wang, the reigning All England Champion was expected to face Saina in the Semis.
However all is not easy for Saina still as she has an uphill task of facing Denmark’s Tine Baun in the Quarter final who is also a former all England champion. Above all Tine Baun has been in superb form as she reaches the final of the just concluded Singapore Open. Saina has never beaten Tine Baun earlier.
In Women’s double even, the Indian pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa made a second round exit after losing to Meiliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii of Indonesia 20-22, 21-18, 18-21. The Indian duo looses the first game but came back strong in the second and was leading 18-16 in the third. They just couldn’t hold on to their lead and concede five consecutive points to lose the decider.
India’s Men’s Double pair of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas succumbed to qualifiers Anthony Clark and Chris Langridge of England 21-18, 17-21, 16-21 in the first round.
