While she was confirmed to be the new World No.1 even before stepping on the court, Saina Nehwal did the work to show that she deserved the crown. The Indian dismantled Japan’s Yui Hashimoto in just 43 minutes to reach her maiden India Open Super Series Final on Saturday. Joining her on the list of Sunday matches for the title will be Kidambi Srikanth, who saw off China’s Xue Song 21-16, 21-13 with much ease to set up a rematch of the Swiss Open Final against Viktor Axelsen.
The 25-year-old Saina made short work of the Japanese player winning the semi-final 21-15, 21-11 in resounding fashion.
“Today I think I played really well. last time when I faced her, I didn’t do well but today I did much better. I’m happy to be in the Final of the India Open Super Series for the first time and hope to do well tomorrow as well,” she said.
Saina will meet Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon in the Final. Intanon beat Saina’s closest competitor for the top honours Carolina Marin of Spain 21-19, 21-23, 22-20 in the other closely contested semi-final which stretched for nearly an hour and a half. Saina was on the top throughout the match using her powerful game to perfect use and deft touches when required to mix things up. In the first game, Saina pushed Hashimoto to the back of the court towards her forehand side and then put away the tame returns. Egged on by a capacity crowd, Saina raced away with the first game in 21 minutes.
The second game proved even easier for Saina who continued to catch the lines as Hashimoto’s errors kept piling up. The Olympic Bronze medallist was smashing her way through and was leading 20-6. That was when she showed nerves for the first time and lost five points on the trot. The lead, however, was too big for the Japanese to cover as Saina closed matters with a cleverly placed drop shot, bringing everyone to their feet.
Srikanth also had an easy outing against Song despite being 0-3 down in the first game. He recovered quickly to make it 4-4 and then built a lead to make it 17-11. Song did try to make a comeback and made it 17-16 but it didn’t prove enough in the end.
In the second game too, Song built an early advantage of 4-0 but never capitalised on it and the duo were even at 9-9. That is when Srikanth moved forward and took the game and the match with the first opportunity.