Indonesia Open-2011: Saina Nehwal wins silver

Saina Nehwal of India, was just one point away from winning the Indonesia Open-2011 (Djarum Indonesia Open Super Series Premier 2011 badminton tournament) title, however this was not destined to be, as Saina sqaundered away a match-point, allowing her opponent Yihan Wang of China, to gain a psychological advantage and an entry back into the match.

The marathon high-voltage match lasted for 1 hour and 5 minutes, and tested the nerves of both the players and spectators. Yihan finally defeated Saina Nehwal to win the Indonesian crown.

Today was the concluding day of the The Indonesia Open-2011 superseries tournament that was held at Jakarta in Indonesia. Saina who had won the Indonesian open badminton titles in the previous 2 editions of this tournament held in 2009 and 2010, barely missed out on completing a hattrick of wins this year.

Yihan Wang defeated Saina Nehwal 12-21, 23-21, 21-14 to win the Indonesia Open-2011 Super series premier title and the gold medal.

Saina wins first set 21-12
In the first game of the women's singles final match, 4th seed Saina Nehwal and 3rd seeded Yihan Wang were tied at 9-9 after which Saina raised her game to win several points in quick succession, to finally win the first game 21-12. Saina hit 7 smashe winners as compared to Yihan's 2 smashes in the first game.
Yihan saves match-point, wins second set 23-21
Yihan bounced back strongly in the 2nd set, and after the initial 7-7 equality, she broke away free and maintained a consistent lead till the score read 19-16 in her favour. Saina Nehwal not to be outclassed so easily, then took 4 points on the trot and the score read 20-19 with Saina on game point, match point and just one point away from the Indonesia Open-2011 Super Series Premier gold medal.

However this was not destined to be. Yihan Wang levelled the score at 20-20, and finally won the tiebreaker and the 2nd game 23-21. In the second set, Yihan hit 8 smash winners compared to Saina's 6 smash winners.

Yihan wins 3rd set 21-14, and grabs the title.
With scores in the 3rd set levelled at 12-12, Yihan broke free with her smashes to put the match out of Saina's reach and finally clinched the set at 21-14, and with it won the Indonesian open-2011 superseries badminton title. Yihan hit 9 smashe winners as compared to Saina's 2 smash winners in the final set of the match.

Saina Nehwal's match results at the Indonesia open-2011 super series premier badminton:

1st round result: Saina Nehwal bt. Linda Zechiri (Bulgaria) 21-12, 21-10
2nd round result: Saina Nehwal bt. Petya Nedelcheva (Bulgaria) 21-18, 21-9
Quarter-Final result: Saina Nehwal bt. Tine Baun (Denmark) 21-19, 21-19
Semi-Final result: Saina Nehwal bt.Shao Chieh Cheng (Chinese Taipei) 21-14, 14-21, 21-17
Final match result: Saina Nehwal lost to Yihan Wang (China) 21-12, 21-23, 14-21
Saina Nehwal who had a great run the previous year in 2010, has been struggling to win major world badminton titles this year. The only title of note that she had won this year was the Wilson Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold title.

She looked like she would end her 2011 title drought today, and was just one point away from the Indonesia open SS badminton title, but ultimately this was not to be, and she had to be satisfied with the runner-up tag, and the silver medal.


Related Articles:

Indonesia Open-2011 Results & Scores of Final Matches


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