Indian shuttlers had mixed fortunes at the 2017 Malaysia Masters as Saina Nehwal progressed into the semi-finals but Ajay Jayaram crashed out of this Grand Prix Gold tournament in Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia on Friday. Top seed Nehwal overcame a slow start in her quarter-final match to notch up a 21-15, 21-14 victory over the eighth seed and World No. 40 Fitriani Fitriani of Indonesia in 40 minutes.
The sixth-seeded Jayaram, in contrast, found the going absolutely tough right from the start and succumbed to a 13-21, 8-21 defeat to the 40th ranked Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia in 28 minutes.
Saina overcomes a slow start
The top-seeded Nehwal took some time to settle into the match and by the time she did, the 18-year-old Indonesian had already raced to a 7-2 lead. Saina took a couple of points but that didn’t throw off the youngster from her rhythm and Nehwal found herself railing 6-11 at half-time.
It was after the break that Nehwal returned rejuvenated and ready to take on the teenager. With a determined display, the resolute Saina levelled at 12-12 and inched ahead to 13-12 to have a lead for the first time in this match.
The game stayed very competitive even after that until the former World No. 1 pushed on the accelerator button at 16-15 to grab the next five points and bag the opener, 21-15.
The second game saw complete domination form the World No. 10. The youngster battled till 5-6 following which the Indian built an 11-6 lead at half-time. Fitriani bagged a few points on resumption to make it 12-13 but that’s the closest she could get to Saina.
A dominant Saina never let go of the advantage she had and put up an impeccable performance for the rest of the game to close out the win.
Saina next faces the fifth seed Yip Pui Yin for a place in the final.
Ginting pummels Jayaram
Earlier in the day, Jayaram had no chance against the 20-year-old Ginting, a player who leads 2-1 in their head-to-head showdowns. Ginting surged to 8-4 and never conceded his lead. Jayaram only managed to get to 8-11 at the break before the Indonesian flew through the rest of the game to take it, 21-13.
Jayaram upped his pace and opened up a 2-1 lead in the second game only to see Ginting come storming back to go up 5-2 and then 11-4. It remained the same even after the mid-game interval as Ginting never relented and clinched the win over Ajay, who could take a further four points only.
