Denmark Open: Saina Nehwal Beats Gregoria Mariska To Cruise Into Final

Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal has made it to the final of the 2018 Denmark Open after beating Gregoria Mariska 21-11, 21-12 in the semi-final on Saturday. In a match that barely lasted 30 minutes, Nehwal dominated Mariska with utmost ease. The world No. 10 Indian shuttler will now meet Tai Tzu Ying in the summit showdown on October 21. Tai Tzu has an overwhelming 12-5 career head-to-head record against Saina.

Saina last defeated Tai Tzu in 2013 and since then the Chinese Taipei shuttler has been victorious in the last 10 matches between the two.

This year, world number 10 Saina has lost all her four matches against Tai Tzu, the last being the semifinal clash in the Asian Games in Jakarta in August.

In the semifinal match against Tunjung, it was, however, a cakewalk for Saina as she completely dominated from start to finish in both the games.

With Parupalli Kashyap, with whom she is getting married later this year, cheering her at the corner of the court, Saina reeled off easy points one after the other with her Indonesian rival not giving much resistance.    

Saina was 10-4 ahead in no time and extended the lead to 17-8 before pocketing the first game in just 13 minutes. Tunjung gave a semblance of a fight in the second game which lasted a bit longer than the first.

Earlier today, defending champion Kidambi Srikanth was knocked out of the Denmark Open 2018 after losing 16-21, 12-21 in 44 minutes to world no 1 Kento Momota in 44 minutes. The first game started on an even note before Momota took a slender 11-10 lead at mid-break and then went on to win the game 21-16.

(With PTI inputs)