Sports
Saina enters Malaysia Open semis
Kuala Lumpur, April 3
World No.1 Saina Nehwal
beat Chinese Sun Yu 21-11, 18-21, 21-17 to reach the semi-finals of the
$500,000 Malaysia Open Superseries Premier at the Putra Stadium here on
Friday.
Saina was in her elements from the beginning. she hardly
broke into a sweat before capturing the first game 21-11. After zooming
to a 12-4 lead, it was easy for the 25-year-old Indian.
But in
the second game, World No.15 Sun showed her grit and fought her way
back. She raced to a 7-1 advantage and Saina chased the game before six
straight points helped her equalise at 14-point mark. However, Sun kept
her calm to take the second game 21-18.
Saina controlled the
third game from the start. Relying on a strong array of strokes and
sharp movement inside the court, the Hyderabadi enjoyed 11-7 lead at the
break.
Sun fired seven points on the trot to level the game at
14-all and even held a 17-16 lead before Saina asserted herself and
grabbed five consecutive points to snatch the game 21-17.
With
this win in an hour and 11 minutes, Saina, who last week won the India
Open, took a 3-1 lead over the 21-year-old Sun in career meetings.
In
the next match on Saturday, Olympic bronze medallist Saina will meet
reigning Olympic champion Li Xuerui, who battled past former World
champion Yihan Wang 14-21, 21-15, 21-12 in 55 minutes.