Press Trust of India
Fuzhou (China), Nov 13: Defending champion Saina Nehwal sailed into the semifinals of the USD 7,00,000 China Open Super Series Premier badminton tournament, after she saw off Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara 21-16, 21-13 here Friday. A relaxed Saina didn’t break a sweat and her cool demeanour helped her to win the match in 42 minutes against the World No. 10.
Saina will now face Yihan Wang to whom she has lost nine times. However, she will take heart from the fact that she has beaten the Chinese twice this year at the All England meet and World Championships.
Coming into the match with a 3-0 record against the Japanese, the Indian showed her class as she played a controlled game, engaging her opponent in long rallies and winning the points with her superior strokes.
Clad in a pink tee, Saina went about her business with consummate ease and even though Okuhara surged ahead to a 5-2 lead early on, she remained unaffected. Saina rode on her sharp and deceptive strokes to make it 5-5 and then led 8-6 and 11-8 at the break.
The World No. 2 Indian continued to lead after the interval, exploiting the gaps left by Okuhara in the middle of the court. Saina finally sealed the first game with a cross court drop which the Japanese had no clue to.
In the second game, Okuhara once again engaged Saina in rallies but the Japanese didn’t have enough power in her strokes to trouble the Indian. She won a point here and there by pushing the shuttle at the back, but Saina was always a step ahead and led 11-3 at the breather.
After the break, Okuhara managed a few points riding on a few unforced errors by Saina. However, the Indian did not panic and maintained the pressure. She never allowed Okuhara to catch up and the closest the Japanese came was at 9-13.
In the end, Saina came up with a controlled push at the nets, which Okuhara had no clue to move to 20-13 and then she closed out the match with another deceptive low return at the net to seal her place in the semifinals.
