Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold 2012: Saina Nehwal through to Women’s Singles semi-final
India’s ace player Saina Nehwal stretched her winning run and stormed into Women’s Singles semi-final after stopping the progress of Thailand’s Sapsiree Taerattanachai in quarter-final clash at Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold 2012 in Bangkok, on Friday, June
8.
Saina, who is currently World Number Five and top seed in Thailand Open, showed her class while playing against her local opponent and remained successful in winning the battle in straight games with a decent score.
The higher ranked Indian lady was impressive in the court as she played top quality badminton and easily took the opening game. However, she had to employ all of her skills to overpower her rival with a tight margin in the following set.
On the other hand, Sapsiree could not produce good form in the opening game and lost it in a one-sided margin. However, she showed up her impressive craft in the second game but remained unlucky in the ending phase and lost to Saina in straight games.
In the opening set, the top seeded Indian lady spared no room for her Thai opponent to play her normal badminton and remained in commanding position. She did not take much time in putting up a thrilling 8-0 lead.
Until the one-minute interval in the opening set, Saina was leading the game with a huge margin of 11-1 on the score board.
After the break, the Indian continued putting up her impressive show and did not show any mercy to her local rival. She was on a different level in the court and grabbed the first set with a tremendous 21-10 score on the board.
In the following set, it was Sapsiree who surprised Saina with her incredible skills. The Thai lady played different game this time and also managed to remain ahead of her Indian opponent on the score board until the one-minute break.
After the interval, Sapsiree was leading the second set with a comfortable margin of 16-10 when Saina elevated her play and started to dominate the pace of rallies.
Accelerated her speed and managed to level the score at 19-19 and remained in full control to grab the set with a 22-20 score on the board.
Saina won this Women’s Singles quarter-final clash in straight games with a decent margin of 21-10 and 22-20.
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