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ShareSaina has had a problem against the top Chinese players in major competitions. What did she do different this time?
Gopi: She played her natural game, her aggressive game. I advised her to keep it simple in the final.
The number of smashes were surprisingly less. Did Saina play a more patient game this time?
Not necessarily, because the chances to hit were not that many. At that level they don't give you too many chances to smash.
The one difference in the final was that Saina lost the first game and then won the next two. She usually wins the first game.
Today in the first game she was playing with the draft, so quite a few of her shots went out. She was not in the game from the beginning. The other girl was trying to put the shuttle in the centre of the court. But by the second game, Saina got the hang of it, and was controlling the net very well.
Saina has now emerged as a major threat to the Chinese, a status you enjoyed briefly...
Well, Lu Lan and Wang Lin are only two of the many top level players they have. Against these two, I would say Saina has the edge. There are four or five other Chinese, and they all play different styles. But not many players, apart from Tine Rasmussen (Denmark) and Wong Mew Choo (Malaysia) have managed to do what Saina did today.
