A lion-hearted performance from Saina Nehwal was insufficient to overcome Tine Rasmussen for a place in the women’s singles final at the All England Open Badminton Championships at the NIA on Saturday. The Indian gave it everything, but Rasmussen on the day was better, and the 21-19 21-17 result was a fair estimate of how the match had gone.
Rasmussen’s win kept up a dream day for Denmark, as they assured themselves of a title in the men’s doubles. The women’s doubles will be an all-China affair, while in the men’s singles, world No.1 Lee Chong Wei made his second final, and will take on either Bao Chunlai of China or Kenichi Tago of Japan.
Saina was tenacious, darting around and retrieving Rasmussen’s thunderbolts; especially her steep drops that homed in on the short service line. Rasmussen has the fiercest smash in the women’s game; the six-foot plus Dane uses her height and broad shoulders to devastating effect, while her reach helps her cover the court with a minimum of movement. Saina was thus not allowed to dictate terms as she is used to.
After a scratchy start, the match developed into a tense encounter mid-way through the first game. Rasmussen got leads of 5-1 and 15-12, but Saina gritted her way back to level things. The pattern established right through the match — Rasmussen would lead and Saina would level, but the Indian somehow was unable to press on the accelerator from there. “That was the problem,” said Saina. “I was having to catch up with her right through. I kept levelling the lead, but maybe I was scared to go into the lead.”
Results (all semifinals): (MS) Lee Chong Wei bt Peter Gade 21-17 21-14; WS: Tine Rasmussen bt Saina Nehwal 21-19 21-17; Wang Yihan bt Wang Xin 21-17 26-24; MD: Boe/ Mogensen bt Zhendong/ Xu Chen 21-16 21-16
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