Thaindian News

New Delhi, May 6 (IANS) India’s Saina Nehwal ended the run of world champion Wang Lin with a fighting 14-21, 21-19, 21-19 victory to enter the semifinal of the Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold badminton at Alor Setar Thursday.

Top seeded Saina beat China’s Lin in a see-saw contest that lasted almost an hour. It was the Indian’s second win against Lin in five meetings. The first one came at Indonesia Super Series final.

Lin, who is making her comeback after a six-month injury break, had to come through the qualifiers and went on to beat All England runner-up and sixth seed Eriko Hirose of Japan in the second round.

World No. 4 Saina had lost in the first round of the India Open Super Series last week.

The Indian will play South Korean Ji Hyun Sung, seeded seventh, who upset third seed Yanjiao Jiang of China 25-23, 13-21, 21-18 in another gruelling quarterfinal. Saina has got the better of the South Korean twice.

Lin won eight points in a row to take a huge 17-8 lead before going up a game.

Saina fought her way back in a close second game and established a 13-8 lead. But Lin levelled at 15-15. Saina, however, changed gears and it was soon one game apiece.

The decider was a more close affair and both players tested each other, but Saina opened a lead of 7-4 and never gave it away.

In another quarterfinal, second seeded Wang Xin of China defeated Ai Goti 23-21, 21-16.