Saina Nehwal, Sameer Verma Enter Finals Of Syed Modi International
Saina Nehwal defeated Ruselli Hartwan in a three-game encounter that lasted 46 minutes.
Highlights
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Saina will be up against fourth-seeded Han Yue of China in the final
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Sameer defeated Chico Aura 21-13, 17-21, 21-8 in the semis
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Sameer Verma will be up against China's Lu Guangzu in the final on Sunday
Star shuttler Saina Nehwal defeated Ruselli Hartwan of Indonesia to enter the women's singles final at the Syed Modi International on Saturday. In a match that lasted 46 minutes, Saina registered a 12-21, 21-7, 21-6 win against her Indonesian opponent. After losing the first game, Saina bounced back in the next two games to win the encounter. In the men's singles event, defending champion Sameer Verma also qualified for the final, defeating Indonesia's Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo 21-13, 17-21, 21-8 in a closely-contested match.Â
In the women's singles, Saina had a slow start against Ruselli in the first game. After falling 2-5 behind, Saina found herself 7-11 down at the mid-break. In the second half of the first game, Saina fell further back, losing points at regular intervals to eventually losing the first game 12-21.
The second game was completely different from the first as the world No.9 started strongly against her Indonesian opponent.Â
Saina won five points in a row to take a 9-4 lead and went into the mid-break with a 11-5 lead.Â
It took 15 minutes for Saina to win the second game 21-7 as she took the match into a decider.
The 28-year-old took complete charge of the final game. Taking eight consecutive points, Saina wasted no time and wrapped up the final game 21-6 in 18 minutes.
In the doubles event, women's pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa lost 12-21, 21-18, 19-21 against Ou Xuanyi abd Feng Xueying of China in the semi-finals.Â
Men's pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also progressed to the finals after defeating Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen of Denmark 22-20, 25-23 in straight games.
However, mixed doubles pair of Ashwini and Satwiksairaj couldn't progress to the finals after they went down narrowly 12-21, 21-18, 19-21 to the Chinese pair of Ou Xuanyi and Feng Xueying early in the day.
Saina will be up against fourth-seeded Han Yue of China in the final on Sunday while Sameer Verma will face China's Lu Guangzu in the men's singles final.