Jakarta: Saina Nehwal made a perfect start to the season, reaching the women’s singles final of the $350,000 Indonesia Masters with a thrilling straight-sets win over world no. 4 Ratchanok Inthanon of Thailand here on Saturday.
The former world no. 1, who has won thrice in Indonesia, dished out a spirited performance to win 21-19, 21-19 in 48 minutes. Saina, who reached the final of an international competition after a year following her title triumph at the Malaysia Masters last year, will play world no. 1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei or China’s eighth seed He Bingjiao in the final on Sunday.
In the opening game, Ratchanok opened up a 3-1 lead. Saina clawed back to make it 5-5.
Ratchanok produced a brilliant straight smash and a cross-court drop to move to 10-7. Saina soon drew parity after Ratchanok went wide and then went ahead 14-13.
The Indonesian next won a video referral to move to 16-15 before Saina’s return went long but she managed to stay at 18-18. A Ratchanok smash into the net handed Saina the opening game.
In the second game, Saina opened up a 6-1 lead and continued to dominate the proceedings. A tired-looking Ratchanok committed too many errors to trail 11-17.
Just when it looked all was over, Ratchanok changed gears and reeled off six points to draw parity at 17-17. Saina’s tight net play and a judgement error by the Thai girl at the back court handed the Indian two match points.
Ratchanok saved one but Saina forced her into an error during a rally to claim the match.
