Top seed Saina Nehwal of India booked her place in the women’s semi-finals yesterday, beating Thailand’s Porntip Buranaprasertsuk 21-13, 21-19 at the BWF World Super Series Masters Finals.
The 19-year-old Indian, a semi-finalist last year, needed a win in her final Group A match to advance in the US$500,000 tournament after losing to Wong Mew Choo of Malaysia in her first match.
Nehwal, who became the first Indian to win the World Junior title last year, stopped Porntip with some brilliant badminton in a 33-minute encounter. After a victory over Charmaine Reid of Canada in her second match, she is now assured of a place in the last four.
“When the draw was made, I knew it wouldn’t be easy and when I lost to Mew Choo, I was well aware that I needed to win my next two matches to make the semi-finals,” Nehwal said. “When I took the court against Porntip, I was not thinking of the semi-finals. I just wanted to go out there and win, which I did.”
Nehwal created Indian badminton history by reaching the Beijing Olympics quarter-finals.
Indonesia’s former Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat bowed out without a win when he lost to Taiwan’s Hsieh Yu-hsin 21-17, 21-15 in his last Group A match.
RSS