Saina wins epic contest to enter semifinals

Saina Nehwal kept her nerve to beat Wang Shixian in the quarterfinals of the Indonesia Open on Friday

Jakarta: Saina Nehwal won an excruciating battle of an hour and 37 minutes to enter the semifinals of the Indonesia Open, in a match that fluctuated wildly and left both contestants on the verge of collapse. Her opponent, Wang Shixian of China, had come back from the dead, saving three match points in the second game and extending the match which at one point had seemed to go decisively in the Indian’s favour.

When Shixian finally put out a net shot wide, Saina fell to the floor, picking herself up after a few moments and burying herself in her coaches’ arms, before leaving the court in tears. She had been pushed to the limits of her endurance, and had held up.

There was little indication that the match would go on so long. Saina, coming into this match with a 2-1 career record against Shixian, was dominant from the start, using her heavy smashes and immaculate netplay to leave the Chinese girl scrambling. The pattern continued into the second as the Indian built up a huge lead and at one point had Shixian gasping for breath after a long rally.

Serving at 20-17, it seemed Saina had sewn up her place in the semifinals.

That was when Shixian began her great fightback.

Helped by one line misjudgement by Saina, Shixian suddenly played percentage badminton, catching Saina with flicks from the net and taking the second game.

The third was a hard battle, neither giving an inch. Shixian’s drops homed in from the baseline, and Saina was frequently at full-stretch as she retrieved impossible shots. Several long rallies later, Saina again had the advantage at 19-16, but once again Shixian clawed back and made it 19-all.

After yet another long rally, Saina had match point at 20-19. This time she needed only one, as she forced the error from Shixian.