[1]An erratic Saina Nehwal failed to defend her title at the Indonesian Super Series Premier, suffering a three-set defeat to Germany’s Juliane Schenk in the semi-finals of the women’s singles competition on Saturday.
World no. 2 Saina, who has won the title three times — in 2009, 2010 and 2012 — lost 21-12, 13-21, 14-21 to Schenk, ranked fourth, in a contest that lasted for 52 minutes at the Istora Gelora Bung Karno Stadium.
It was not Saina’s day as the Indian, who holds a 8-3 record against the German, was too erroneous in the execution of her strokes, which helped her opponent to seal a place in the final.
In the first game, Schenk took a 12-10 lead after a fierce battle early on, but Saina wrested back the advantage by involving the German in long rallies.
Schenk failed to gauge Saina’s strokes and faltered with her execution as she allowed the Indian to race away with the first game with 11 straight points.
After changing sides, Juliane moved to a 4-0 lead in a flash as nothing went Saina’s way. Egged on by a vociferous crowd, the Indian gathered four points but the German was well ahead at 11-4 during the interval. A couple of missed strokes at the net gave Saina two points but the Indian committed far too many unforced errors to allow Schenk gain nine game points at 20-11.
In the decider, Saina looked to play more rallies but Schenk matched the Indian and waited for her to commit mistakes. Saina once again started hitting long and wide to allow Juliane to get hold of the lead at 6-4.
Schenk will next take on the winner of the match between world no. 1 Chinese Li Xuerui and Pui Yin Yip of Hong Kong.
Links:
[1] http://archive.asianage.com/sp1jpg-055