Press Trust of India
Birmingham, Mar 7: London Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal scripted history by reaching the finals of the prestigious All England Badminton Championship with a straight set victory over Sun Yu of China in the women’s singles competition here, Saturday.
The World No. 3 shuttler, who reached the semifinals of the event in 2010 and 2013, defeated the unseeded Sun 21-13, 21-13 in semifinal at the Barclaycard Arena. Saina is now just one step away from joining Indian legends Prakash Padukone (1980) and Pulella Gopichand (2001) who have bagged the prestigious title in the past. The 24 year old will face the winner of the other semifinal between Tai Tzu Ying and Carolina Marin Sunday.
After disposing her nemesis Yihan Wang of China, third seed Saina was faced with the task of taming World No. 18 Sun, who had seen off the likes of Nichaon Jindapon, Li Xuerui and Ratnachok Intanon over the last three days. The Indian had come into the match with a 1-1 record against Sun, who had defeated her during the 2013 China Open but all that didn’t matter as Saina stamped her authority with her wide repertoire of stroke.
Saina, who had beaten Sun at the Australian Open in June last year, failed to create pressure in both the starting games but soon drew her rival in long drawn battle of rallies. It was initially an exciting action after Saina broke Sun several times. An unforced error from Sun gave Saina the advantage of seven game points and the Hyderabadi sealed it when the Chinese hit the shuttle hard and long.
In the second game, Sun once again opened up a narrow 3-2 lead but Saina kept drawing her to the net, where she looked comfortable. The Chinese used her powerful smashes to good use to put Saina on the backfoot. Saina kept playing long rallies, relying more on the errors of her opponent. She kept the pressure on the Chinese drawing her close to the net and capitalising on her better net play. Sun faltered on the forecourt, committing number of mistakes. Soon Saina extended the gap to win the set and the match and walked her way to the history book. A jubilant Saina threw her racquet to the crowd, celebrating her place at the finals