Indian ace shuttler Saina Nehwal is one win away from her maiden title of the season as she advanced to the finals of Australian Open Super Series by beating World No. 2 Yihan Wang of China in the women’s singles event here today.
Saina received a big boost ahead of her Rio Games campaign as she defeated 2011 world champion and 2012 Olympic silver medallist Yihan, seeded fourth, 21-8 21-12 in just over half an hour in the semifinals.
The London Olympic bronze medallist Indian will take on World No. 12 Sun Yu of China, who defeated third seed and compatriot Li Xuerui in another semifinals, in the summit clash tomorrow.
The girl from Hyderabad, who had won the Australian Open in 2014, has a 5-1 head-to-head record against Sun, who had upstaged the Indian once at the 2013 China Open.
In men’s singles, Kidambi Srikanth’s fight ended with a disappointing 20-22 13-21 loss against Denmark’s Hans-Kristian Vittinghus in a 43-minute semifinal battle.
Saina was at her dominating best in the opening game. She executed her plans perfectly and zoomed to a 15-6 lead against Yihan. The Indian came up with some sharp angled returns to bamboozle the Chinese. Her slices and smashes were stiff and sharper then Yihan, who seemed off-colour.
