Saina Nehwal fashions the great fall of China

The head-to-head record is officially 2 wins, 9 losses against Yihan, but Saina’s score-keeping is attuned to scratchy 9-1. (The first time Yihan ‘lost’ to Nehwal, she had retired hurt in Denmark. At the All England, Yihan was visibly injured) The unspoken stats that formed the background din to this clash at Indonesia, read as follows: Nehwal had never gone past the quarters at the Worlds – stuttering there five times, while younger PV Sindhu had collected a pair of podiums in two years. At four of these five tragic losses, there was a Chinese motioning her to the exit end, till it was declared that Saina Nehwal couldn’t beat them Chinese anymore. She had moved cities, bag, baggage and burden of history flung on her shoulders, because coach Vimal Kumar would give her dedicated attention and help her crack the Chinese puzzle.

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And finally, it was the 10th year that Saina Nehwal was being haunted by the same opponent. The tall, powerful Chinese with an abrasive game and a hand-speed that looked straight out of the Matrix movies, first met a young Saina when the former was 19 and the latter 16. It was the 2006 Junior World Championship and the Indian had finished runners-up at Korea’s Incheon. “Pit ke aa gayi thi. Bahot saalon tak chalaa ye,” he says guffawing at the memory. She had been badly beaten by the opponent, and this continued for years.

Most notable of these hammerings were at the London Olympics semifinals, title finals at Indonesia and Switzerland and assorted three-set teases at Indonesia (2011), Uber Cup Kuala Lumpur (2010) and Asian Games last year. The scars hasn’t healed and Nehwal would scratch at the scabs of these losses every time Yihan — a very domineering player – would defeat her.

At the All England earlier, Nehwal would score her first bonafide victory, though Yihan wasn’t moving well enough owing to her back injury. On Friday at the Istora Stadium in Jakarta, both girls turned up fit and firing and played one of the classiest matches of their rivalry which has been rather lopsided in the Chinese girl’s favour.

It was 72 minutes of top-standard play – full of accurate strokes, power retorts, deception and mental games – that ended 21-15, 19-21, 21-19 in Saina’s favour. She wouldn’t trade the opponent and occasion for anyone else, if she were to script the style in which her maiden World Championship medal would come. The silver and gold are up for grabs in the coming two days, but Saina Nehwal made no bones about what this victory meant to her:

“I’ve not thought of final, only the quarters and pre-quarters. This semifinal itself is a very surprising moment for me. because you know over the last 5-6 World Championships it has been a mental block. I wanted to come out of it,” she admitted candidly after the match. “It was like a final for me. Very special.”

Numerous times, against Yihan, Saina has started well, only to be taken apart in the final decider. At the Asian Games – one of the “big events” where Saina admits she messes up big time – the final set scoreline read 21-7. It was a massacre, and like pevious face offs with Yihan, rendering all the effort gone into getting into the third set, redundant. On Friday at Indonesia, Saina’s favourite venue where she’s tasted three title success before, it was the last decisive points which she played differently than before.

“I know Saina rates Yihan and Xuerui very high and she feels they are smarter than her at the closing stages,” coach Vimal Kumar said. “I kept telling her to take time while serving and not to hurry in long rallies. I repeated that she has worked hard and was fitter than her opponent.”

The patience and her poise that had always deserted her against Yihan, was impeccably summoned and employed in this all-important quarterfinal that would stop the sniggers about the former World No 1 (now she’s No 2) having never medalled at the Worlds. But there was more to this game than the grit and the power and stamina she’s known for.

Confident start

Saina would start confidently, snapping at Yihan’s heels in the opener, and playing strokes that were accurate and ripostes – more than returns. The pace of rallies that the two struck was top-notch, and while Nehwal was mixing the overheads, drop shots, body smashes and backhand crosscourts to win the first set 21-15, Yihan was warming up for her counter. The Chinese was wrong-footed on the left forecourt corner as Saina’s drops and net-play and flicks were assured and solid, completely error-free even as she didn’t shy away from the long rallies at high voltage where the quality of retrieving and the offense couldn’t have been bettered,

Yihan’s counter came in the form of a 8-point-flurry from 9-13 down to leading 17-13, and she deservedly won the second set, setting the stage for what are Yihan-specials: a sprint to final 21 points with blistering winners. Only, this time, Saina wouldn’t climb down or cower. She would stay within striking distance, and maintain power in her starch-crisp strokes executed with a whiplash action. It was a match between equals who know each other’s games inside out, matched stroke for beautiful stroke. “Saina had great shot selection today, and even her deception was just right – not over-used, not under-utilised,” Aparna Popat, former international, said.

Vimal Kumar reckons the point in which Yihan caught Saina at the net (at 15-17 after a gruelling rally with desperate retrieving) was a classic, and the best of the match. With pressure mounting at both ends, the coach had calmly appreciated the opponent’s skill. He would pass on the same calm to his ward. Earlier, Saina had run out of her Hawkeye review challenges within the first ten minutes of the match. Neither that – she could’ve done with one later – nor the fact that Yihan wasn’t exactly wilting, frustrated her, as she kept an even temperament. “She kept her composure in the last 4 points, when it was anybody’s game,” Vimal said.

A bronze is assured, a better hue is anticipated on Independence Day. “I’m still thinking abt today’s match, but it’ll be tough” she would say, though she will wake up to the challenge of local girl Lindaweni Fanetri against whom she is 2-1. “She’s in the semifinals because she’s good,” she’d stock take. It can be said of Saina Nehwal too: She might have been great to reach World No 1, but she’s in the semifinal of the World Championship because on Friday against oldest nemesis Yihan Wang, she was suitably good enough.