Hong Kong Open Badminton 2018 | Saina Nehwal vs Akane Yamaguchi

Akane Yamaguchi has beaten Saina Nehwal 10-21, 21-10, 21-19 in 52 minutes to enter the second round

Apologies for the delay. We were experiencing some technical issues.

Akane Yamaguchi has beaten Saina Nehwal 10-21, 21-10, 21-19 in 52 minutes to enter the second round.

It's now the Japanese who is marginally ahead at 19-18

It's highly competitive now!

17-17

Saina levels this at 16-16

With three points in a row, the Japanese goes into the lead again at 15-14

Now Saina is steadily increasing the gap between the two.

Saina up 14-12

And what a turnaround! Saina leads 11-10 at the mid-game interval

Yamaguchi has managed to separate herself and lead 10-8

SAINA HAS DRAWN LEVEL!!!!!!

8-8

But Yamaguchi still manages to inch ahead to 8-6 and have a lead of two points!

And Saina is FIGHTING BACK!

With two more points, she now trails 5-6

In the decider, the Japanese is once more ahead at 6-3

And Yamaguchi has taken this game by the exact same scoreline - 21-10

Yamaguchi has gone up further and Saina is fighting desperately to get back into contention

Saina 7-18

Saina takes 3 points after the break but the gap is still huge!

Yamaguchi leads 14-4

Yamaguchi is 11-1 ahead at the mid-game interval.

Yamaguchi is now ahead at 8-1 as Saina gets on the board!

6-0 to Yamaguchi

Now it's Yamaguchi's turn to dominate and she is doing it how!

The Japanese opens up a whopping 5-0 lead in Game 2

Saina has bagged the first game 21-10

10 game points for Nehwal!

20-10

The pace of the game has slowed down a bit.....yet Saina is far ahead at 18-10

It's 17-9 for the Indian at present

And two more points come Saina's way! She is now ahead at 16-7

Saina has picked up from where she left...with three more points she races further ahead to 14-7

What a comeback this has been from the Indian! Can she continue this even after the break?

It's an 11-7 advantage for Nehwal at the mid-game interval.

SAINA GOES UP TO 10-7 NOW

THIS IS AN AGGRESSIVE SHOW FROM THE INDIAN NOW!!!!!

SHE TAKES THREE POINTS ON THE TROT TO RACE AHEAD TO 8-5

SAINA HAS DRAWN LEVEL TO MAKE IT 5-5

AND SAINA IS FIGHTING BACK!!!!!

SHE TAKES THREE POINTS AND NOW TRAILS BY JUST ONE POINT AT 3-4

And the Japanese takes yet another point!

She is up 3-0

And the match has started!

It's 2-0 to Yamaguchi!

Hong Kong Open 2018 Badminton Live: Saina Nehwal vs Akane Yamaguchi Live score & Updates | 14th November 2018