Press Trust of India
Shah Alam (Malaysia): Saina Nehwal sealed a semifinal spot after a hard-fought victory but compatriot PV Sindhu crumbled under pressure to bow out of the women’s singles at the Malaysia Open Super Series Premier badminton tournament here Friday.
World No. 8 Saina dug deep into her vast experience as she recovered from a game deficit to beat Thailand’s Porntip Buranaprasertsuk 19-21, 21-14, 21-14 in a 58-minute clash at the quarterfinals stage of the USD 550,000 event. This was her eighth win over the Thai player in nine meetings.
Saina will next meet Tai Tzu Ying here Saturday. Saina has a 5-8 record against the Chinese Taipei shuttler, who has beaten the Indian in their last five meetings, including in last month’s All England Championship.
The experience of beating the World No. 4 Ratchanok Intanon at the Korea Open last year, however, did not quite help Sindhu as she suffered her fourth defeat to the Thai girl in five meetings, going down 7-21, 8-21 in 29 minutes.
Saina trailed 3-6 early on in the first game and even though she caught up after the break at 14-14, Porntip managed to get the better of the Indian in the opening game.
In the second game, Saina led 11-7 at the interval and then moved into a 20-13 lead, despite a fighting Porntip narrowing it down to 12-13 at one point. The Indian closed the game comfortably to bounce back into the contest.
In the decider, Saina continued her dominance and did not give any chance to Porntip as she led 5-1 initially and then sealed the issue to advance to her third successive semifinals this season.
At the adjacent court, Ratchanok continued giving badminton lessons to Sindhu, who seemed completely clueless about her strokes.
Ratchanok played with soft hands, using her drops and deceptive returns to great effect, while Sindhu committed far too many unforced errors to pose any kind of challenge to her opponent.
