Saina Nehwal survives a scare against Ayane Kurihara in round-of-16: China Masters Super Series
Saina Nehwal, the best female shuttler in India narrowly survived a scare against Ayane Kurihara of Japan in the Women’s Singles round-of-16, on Thursday, September 15, in Changzhou, China.
Saina, who is the World Number Five and the fifth seed in this event, remained lucky in the end as she finished the third game with a tight margin. The Indian played to her maximum skills but her opponent also displayed impressive badminton, particularly
in the second and third set of the match.
The Indian delivered a remarkable performance in the first set of this Women’s Singles battle, as she faced no considerable resistance from her Japanese rival. Kurihara tried to play well but failed to catch up the difference in the opening set and remained
behind her higher ranked challenger at 6-11.
After the break, Saina played in similar attacking fashion as she spared no chance for her opponent throughout the second-half of the opening game. Kurihara failed to stop Saina from winning the first game with the score of 21-11.
The following set of this fight showed the skills of both shuttlers, as they employed every skill they possessed to win this battle. The Japanese shuttler managed a small lead, as she reached 11-9.
The higher ranked Indian tried to employ different tactics, but her opponent was playing fast and perfect badminton. Kurihara played an aggressive game in this set by taking the bird quite early against Saina. The Indian made some errors in the second-half
of the set and lost it with the score of 18-21.
The match entered into the breath-taking phase as both shuttlers delivered a superb performance in the deciding set. They played s positive and fast game to build pressure on each other. The score was 25-25, when the higher ranked Indian played tremendously
well and won the set with a 27-25 margin. Saina emerged as the winner of this round-of-16 match with the score of 21-11, 18-21 and 27-25. Both players battled it out for 71 minutes in this scintillating encounter.
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