Saina in final of Swiss Open Grand Prix
March 19th, 2011 - 10:44 pm ICT by IANSBasel, March 19 (IANS) India’s badminton star Saina Nehwal defeated Bae Youn-Joo of South Korea 21-19, 13-21, 21-14 to storm into the final of the Swiss Open Grand Prix here Saturday.
Second-seeded Saina beat the Korean, seeded fourth, in 58 minutes.
The first game was close with the Korean gaining early ascendancy, leading 10-4, but Saina foght back and levelled at 15-15. It was neck-and-neck battle from there on and the score read 19-19, but Saina held her nerves and pocketed took two points to take the game.
Bae came back strongly in the second game and opened up a 11-3 lead. Saina recovered, but the Korean maintained the lead and drew level.
In the decider, Saina showed her class, gaining a 11-4 lead and never looked back. The Korean narrowed down the gap at 15-13, but Saina stepped up and raced ahead to win the match.
The Indian will next face the winner of the second semifinal beyween Ji Hyun Sung of Korea and Juliane Schenk of Germany.
In the quarter-final, Saina beat sixth seeded Petya Nedelcheva 22-2-, 21-17. She had been in good form in the tournament and took sweet revenge for her All England loss by beating Japanese Eriko Hirose earlier.
- Saina captures first title of the year at Swiss Open (Lead) - Mar 20, 2011
- Saina in Malaysian Open final - May 07, 2011
- China Open: Saina, Jayaram, Kashyap lose in first round - Nov 23, 2011
- Saina, Jwala-Diju in world badminton quarters - Aug 26, 2010
- Saina beats World Champion to enter Malaysia Open semifinal - May 06, 2011
- Saina beats Eriko to enter Swiss Open quarters - Mar 18, 2011
- Saina in quarters of Swiss Open (Lead, superseding previous story) - Mar 18, 2011
- Saina stunned in quarters of All England Championships - Mar 12, 2011
- India Open badminton: Saina knocked out in prequarters (Lead) - Apr 26, 2012
- Saina Nehwal in quarters of All England - Mar 11, 2011
- Saina bows out of Japan Open semis - Sep 24, 2011
- Saina beats world champion Lu Lan to make Singapore Open final - Jun 19, 2010
- Indian Open: Saina admits she was under pressure - Apr 26, 2012
- India Open Super Series: Lee Chong Wei, Porntip win singles titles (Lead) - May 01, 2011
- Asian Games badminton: Jwala-Ashwini bow out in pre-quarters (Lead) - Nov 16, 2010
Tags: all england, ascendancy, badminton, basel, decider, first game, gap, grand prix, India, ji hyun, juliane schenk, march 19, match, nerves, petya, saina, score, second game, south korea, sweet revenge