Paris: London Olympics bronze medallist shuttler Saina Nehwal stamped her authority to storm into the final of the French Super Series with a classy 21-19, 21-8 victory over German Juliane Schenk in the semifinals of the women’s singles here on Saturday.
The 22-year-old Indian, who was meeting Juliane for the second time in two weeks, outclassed the German in a 36-minute match, which saw some brilliant badminton. She will take on Minatsu Mitani of Japan in the final on Sunday.
Saina, who had defeated Juliane in the finals of the Denmark Open last week, showed once again why she is one of the best badminton players in the world as she hardly put a foot wrong.
The world number three was erratic initially and conceded a narrow 3-1 lead. But she soon bought up her down the line smashes and tosses and engaged Schenk in long rallies to make it 6-6.
The German moved to a 15-10 lead, but she failed to judge the shuttle speed and kept hitting long to allow Saina claw back at 16-16.
A delightful net stroke helped Saina to make it 17-19 and then what followed was a scintillating rally where Schenk lost her racquet while returning a shot to allow the Indian gather another point.
The first game loss broke the German’s spirit and it affected her game. Saina, on the other hand, grew in confidence and took the second game easily. (PTI)
