Badminton: Sindhu beats Saina in straight games

It is not often that people pay to watch two Indian shuttlers play against each other. But on Friday evening it was almost as if all roads led to Delhi’s Siri Fort Sports complex where the two dream girls of Indian badminton, PV Sindhu (21) and Saina Nehwal ( 27) were pitted against each other in the Quarter Finals of the India Open Super Series.

Saina, still recovering from her knee injury, was not expected to try too hard. She did not want to put any extra load on her right knee, she said on Thursday, making it clear that her attempt would be to avoid more injury to the knee. “There is more pressure when you are fit. But I have nothing to lose,” she said ruefully. She almost seemed to have given up, mentally prepared to lose.

But on Friday evening Saina did not give up without a fight. But the quicker reflexes and movement on court of Sindhu got the better of Nehwal.

Sindhu set up a clash with second seeded Korean Sung Ji Hyun in the semi-finals tomorrow.

Saina, a London Olympics bronze medallist, and Sindhu had previously met each other just once in an international competition—at the 2014 Syed Modi International—where Saina had won in straight games.

They had played against each other in PBL early this year with Sindhu having got an upper hand. They had also faced each other in the Indian Badminton League in 2013 when Saina emerged victorious.

The results of their last four encounters are now as follows:

• Saina Nehwal (Hyderabad HotShots) beat PV Sindhu (Awadhe Warriors) 21-15, 21-7 in the Indian Badminton League (IBL) in 2013.
• Saina Nehwal defeated PV Sindhu 21-14, 21-17 in the Indian Grand Prix Gold in 2014.
• PV Sindhu (Chennai Smashers) beat Saina Nehwal (Awadhe Warriors) 11-7, 11-8 in the Premier Badminton League (PBL) in 2017.
• PV Sindhu wins 21-16, 22-20 against Saina Nehwal in the Quarter Final of Indian Open Super Series.

Earlier in the day, second seeded Korean Sung Ji Hyun edged out defending champion Ratchanok Intanon, seeded fifth, 21-16 22-20, while fourth seeded Akane Yamaguchi staved off a challenge from former All England champion Nozomi Okuhara, seeded seventh, 21-13 11-21 21-18 in an all-Japanese contest.

In men's singles, two-time runners-up Viktor Axelsen of Denmark eked out a hard-fought 19-21 21-14 21-16 win over Chinese Taipei's Tzu Wei Wang to reach the semifinals.