Saina Nehwal has always given her supporters jitters with her slow starts in tournaments before picking momentum. The Commonwealth Games final in New Delhi had seen the Indian ace go match-points down before showing nerves of steel to get back into the game and win it. Off-late,however,Saina has been missing that spark. With her straight-games exits in the second round of Denmark Open on Thursday,the grit to counter-attack seems to have been replaced by a sense of lethargy. And coach Gopichand is expectedly concerned. Saina has been a bit sluggish in recent tournaments. Her mobility on court has been a cause for concern and we will want to repair that as soon as possible, Gopichand told The Indian Express on Thursday. A bout of cold and sore throat would no doubt have restricted Sainas movement on court and she was not able to move as well as she wouldve liked. Her opponent too had an exceptional game with her net-play and her smashing ability, Gopi said of the 21-19 21-13 defeat in 36 minutes against World No 18 Tzu Ying Tai. Saina had beaten Tai on four previous occasions,two of them seeing Nehwal come out winners in three-setters despite less-than-satisfactory starts. After being down 4-11 going into the first break,Saina showed glimpses of that grit and came back to level at 18-18,only to concede the game 21-19. The second game saw her start well but lose the plot as her net play disintegrated. While she managed to level things at 10-10,she drifted off to lose four points on a trot,going down 21-13. Setback for 2012 Games Her exit translates into yet another blow to her Olympic preparation and Gopichand is anxious as to when her fortunes will turn. While Nehwal won the Swiss Open early in the year,she has been off-colour since making the finals at Indonesia mid-year. Back-to-back reverses against the Chinese brigade seem to have eaten into her confidence even while she plays lesser opponents. Good news for India came in the form of Jwala Gutta and V Diju notching up a 21-16 21-19 victory over Chris Adcock and Imogen Bankier of England in the second round of the mixed doubles category.
