Thailand Open 2012: Saina Nehwal outshines Ratchanok Inthanon in Women’s Singles title match
Women’s Singles queen Saina Nehwal of India seized the crown in SCG Thailand Open after defeating Ratchanok Inthanon in title match on June 10, 2012.
This epic 65 minute battle was held in CU Sports Complex of Bangkok and both ladies earned great deal of admiration for their fighting spirit in three exhausting sets which ended with final results of 19-21, 21-15 and 21-10.
Though, World Number five shuttler Saina was bit scratchy in the beginning but she came back with a strong reply in last two games to secure the honour.
On the other hand, the Thai campaigner Ratchanok Inthanon could not capitalise her early advantage and frittered away a golden opportunity of wearing the crown in home event.
In first set of the match, World Number eleven shuttler took some time to start her marathon as she remained equal until 7-7 score position but then she picked up the pace and left her challenger far behind.
Inthanon entered a respectable total of 11-8 before the one-minute break which helped her to start third quarter of the set with an upper hand.
She make best out of this initial lead and magnified the impact with 18-11 score on the board. At this critical stage Saina made a swift progress by dominating five continuous rallies but it was not enough to avoid 19-21 defeat in first set.
However, the Indian girl stamped her supremacy in very next game as she brought the match to right balance by winning second set.
This time Saina controlled overall pace of the game from very first shot to last one. She gained an immediate three-point advantage in 5-2 and then doubled the lead by reaching at 8-3 margin.
First half of the set ended with a solid dominance of top seeded shuttler who continued dictating her rival in the second half.
She bagged this crucial set with a distinctive figure of 21-15 and setup a survival of the fittest war in the decider.
There was lot of disappointment for local crowd in third and final set as their shuttler Inthanon proved sitting duck and Saina hunted her down with great ease.
The Indian campaigner stole the limelight with a huge eleven points’ difference in concluding total of 21-10.
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