India’s Saina Nehwal made a shock exit from the BWF Destination Dubai World Superseries Finals at the Hamdan Sports Complex on Saturday, losing to Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei in the semi-finals.
Nehwal has a had a great run at the Superseries Finals, at least until yesterday, reaching the last four undefeated and beating the higher ranked Bae Yeon Ju in the quarter-finals the previous day.
The first game went to crowd favourite Nehwal, but Tzu Ying had other ideas though, and produced some amazing shots to outplay the Indian 11-21, 21-13, 21-9 and book a spot in today’s final.
Nehwal said: “I think I was really tired in the second (game). I started well, but again when the long rallies started happening I felt a little tired. Yesterday’s game was also very tough on me. Of course she’s got some difficult strokes, unless you are fresh you can’t pick them up, you have to keep on running.”
Thank you dubai! had a great tournament pic.twitter.com/pUWFnHqNvH
— Saina Nehwal (@NSaina) December 21, 2014
Tzu Ying said: “I started to find my rhythm in the second. I played her when I was starting out in badminton; I have learnt a lot from players like her. She is very powerful and had support from the spectators here. But I like playing in front of a big audience; it doesn’t matter if they back me or not.”
In the second semi-final, Sung Ji Hyun of South Korea breezed past Akane Yamaguchi, winning their Women’s Singles encounter 21-13, 21-13.
Meanwhile, China Chen Long survived a scare against India’s Kidambi Srikanth on his way to the Men’s Finals.
Which of the finalists will be walking away today with the title of BWF Destination Dubai World… http://t.co/3n3r8YylgQ
— BWFDestinationDubai (@BWFDubaiFinals) December 21, 2014
Srikanth started strongly and raced to a 16-10 lead in the first game before Chen found his rhythm, eventually running out the winner 21-18, 21-9. Chen will meet Hans-Kristian Vittinghus of Denmark, who overcame a 0-5 head-to-head record to defeat his countryman Jan O Jorgensen in the other semi-final, 21-11, 21-17.
