Malaysia Open Super Series: Saina Nehwal beats Juan Gu to enter into Women’s Singles second round
India’s top seed and World Number Four, Saina Nehwal, advances into Women’s Singles second round after defeating Singapore’s Juan Gu in a thrilling first round contest of the Malaysia Open Super Series 2012, on Wednesday, January 11, at National Sports Complex
in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The fourth seed Saina had to play to her maximum potential to get rid of her passionate Singaporean opponent. Juan played superb badminton and stretched the match to three games against the higher ranked Indian shuttler.
However, Saina controlled the pace on time in the final set and ended it with a reasonable score on the board. She took 56 minutes to chuck out Juan and advanced into second round of Malaysia Open.
The crowd could not have expected better badminton as both ladies showed their elevated skills and remained close in the whole opening game. The score was tight in opening half as both shuttlers played positive badminton.
However, in the second half, Saina started to dominate the rallies and remained successful in setting up a small lead. However, she could not control the bird in ending points as her rival started to play aggressive badminton. Saina lost the opening game
to Juan with a tight score of 19-21.
Stung by the loss of first set, the Indian played different badminton in second game and took an early lead. She played fast game this time and did not spare any chance for her Singaporean rival to play attacking badminton.
Juan remained struggling in the second set as her higher ranked challenger was playing parallel game. Saina remained positive in the entire set and took it with a comfortable 21-14 score on the board.
In the decider, Saina was everywhere in the court as she played with precision and took seven consecutive points in the starting rallies. She was 7-0 ahead when Juan played better and drew near by reaching 8-9. Until the break, the higher ranked Indian lady
was going slightly ahead at 11-9.
After the interval, Saina continued her wonderful run and maintained her domination in the game. She did not play negative strokes throughout the set and ended it with a score of 21-15. The end result of this 56-minute encounter was 19-21, 21-14 and 21-15.
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