Jakarta: Three-time champion Saina Nehwal edged out Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon in a thrilling opening round to make a rousing start to her campaign at the Indonesia Super Series Premier badminton tournament here Tuesday.
Saina, who has slipped out of the world top 10 rankings for the first time in seven years, rallied her way to a 17-21, 21-18, 21-12 win over the eighth-seeded Thai player, who is a former World Champion.
Saina, who had a 7-5 head-to-head record against Ratchanok, will face another Thai player Nitchaon Jindapol in the next round and is likely to clash with World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying in the quarters. It should also be stated here that Saina had lost to Ratchanok in their last two encounters.
In mixed doubles, B Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa suffered a 12-21, 9-21 loss to Indonesian combo of Irfan Fadhilah and Weni Anggraini to crash out of the tournament.
Saina made a good start to the match, leading 10-4 at one stage but she blew the advantage after the break as Ratchanok clawed back at 14-14 and then marched ahead to earn the bragging rights.
In the second game, Saina opened up a 12-7 lead and despite the Thai girl levelling scores at 16-16, the Indian surged ahead to win the game and bounce back in style.
In the decider, Saina dished out a dominating game as she lead right from the start 8-2 and didn’t give any chance to Ratchanok to make a comeback.
“Overall, I am satisfied with the way I played,” Saina said after the match. I knew it was going to be tricky and am glad that I played a very good third game to win the match.”
