Saina Nehwal gets the better of PV Sindhu, enters Indonesia Masters semi-finals

It received very little attention in the wake of Sindhu’s silver medal at the Glasgow finals, but at the Worlds last year, Saina Nehwal had shown she could patch together a reasonably efficient week and get herself into medal contention. Making her first semis since that August, the Hyderabadi has shown the same ability to squeeze out a result in her favour with absolute economy of movement.

That Saina will make the muscular – to – cerebral transition in her game and tweak it to cater to a body that’s faced wear and tear, was never in doubt. On Friday against Sindhu, she would do just enough to wrap up a listless rival and head into the semis Saturday where sterner tests would await.

Sindhu’s winning game relies on speed and aggression, and both were lacking in the quarters against Saina. The resistance Sindhu offered hence would be a wrong indicator of Saina’s form, but a third straight win after the two against the young, restless Chinese don’t fall into the lap just like that.

Badminton has witnessed many titanic battles, but there’s something to be said for those who build a match plan around short, snappy rallies. Saina had her game-plans pat – she would guide her returns at Sindhu or mostly hovering on her shoulder blades that the long limbed opponent couldn’t quite fend off. She would exploit the forehand lunging corner even as Sindhu struggled to push her back.

Combined with Saina’s retrieving where she takes sting off Sindhu’s pacy returns with her locked wrists and her patent rolled-wrist inside out flick that fetches her points for eon years and never loses its ability to surprise, Saina had the match in her grasp from the early stages with Sindhu staying error-strewn and not committing to a full blown offense either.

Up 8-4 in the opener, Saina would maintain that lead to 13-9 varying her pace in between rallies and open a yawning gap to win the first 21-13. Saina was sharper on the day and though the two seemed almost impatient in exploiting the other’s known errors, it was in the second set that the contest offered some excitement. At 3-6 Sindhu would suddenly get into the groove and over a longish rally, construct a point by threatening a return. The 22-year-old would work her way back and take a tiny 11-10 lead at the break, but her attack was so butter knife blunt, and at 14-13 Saina would let out a ferocious cry regaining the lead.

It was a solitary point at 14-all that gave a glimpse of what a full-throttle contest between the two can offer – an over 30-shot rally which acquired a life of its own. Saina kept smashing, Sindhu kept retrieving – and just when you thought the frustration of a blunted attack would force a mistake out of Saina, Sindhu blinked. Both would bend over and take a towel down breather.

Saina though having prevailed in the point of the match, and with the comfort of her lead would bound forward with aggressive intent and watch as Sindhu failed to get out of the way of the body-smashes. A neat drop took Saina to 18-15, but it was here that Sindhu snapped out of her reverie again and for the briefest of interludes picked a clutch of points the way she usually does – dominating the rally.

At 19-16 they were literally eye-to-eye at the net when Sindhu sneaked in a net winner – and Saina grinned widely. Sindhu would bring matters close to 20-19, but on the third match point, sail a toss long. Saina’s always had the game smarts, but Indonesia was something she was aiming towards through the last month – giving her 100 percent in practice (even on PBL match days), all geared towards this week. Slowly gaining her sharpness, she would first dump out Chen Yufei, then dispose of Chen Xiaoxin – showing no trouble in recovery after the long Yufei match, before lining up against Sindhu.

On a day when Sung Ji Hyun, Carolina Marin and Nozomi Okuhara all lost, Saina became the only unseeded semifinalist after her 37 minute win over Sindhu. Coach Siyaduttulah has watched both Saina and Sindhu grow in the game closely, and talks of the court attitude that both display. “They might be well, unwell, not feeling 100 percent, bearing pain, but they will give their 100 percent in a match. You’ll never be able to tell looking at the two Indian girls from their attitude that something’s wrong. Even when down, I don’t think they are trained to think about losing,” he says.

There’s Ratchanok Intanon next on Saturday – a player Saina doesn’t fancy playing much because of the Thai’s grand deceptions. But, she leads Ratchanok, ranked World No 4, 8-5 in career head to head. Whatever it is that will get thrown at her, Saina will find her way out – or perish trying.