Saina Nehwal wins but not in style

Saina Nehwal may have been low on confidence. With a lot of expectations riding on her every time she steps on to the court, India’s only Olympic medal-winning shuttler has her plate full.

In the tournaments she was fancied to win, she lost in the second round of India Open Super Series in April and exited in the quarterfinals of the Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold last week.

On Tuesday at the Indonesia Open Super Series Premier in Jakarta where she is the defending champion, she was stretched to three games in the women’s singles first round.

The World No. 2 sweated it out to register a 21-17 27-29 21-13 victory in an hour and 13 minutes over the 24-year-old Lindaweni Fanetri, world No.
14 from Indonesia.

It was their first meeting ever, and going by the length of the match, Saina, who is playing her second tournament in as many weeks after returning from a toe fracture, showed that fitness was not a concern, at least for now. And of course, the win would’ve given her a lot of confidence going into Round 2.

“I have been cleared by my orthopaedic,” Saina told dna before leaving for this South East Asian trip that also includes Singapore Open Super Series next week. “The toe hurts a bit for a few minutes but then it is perfectly alright.”

Saina had also reiterated that she has not been forced to participate in these three back-to-back tournaments to protect her points. “It is a matter of delight for me to be participating in these tournaments.”

Chief national coach P Gopichand told this paper recently that there was still some work to be done on India’s most-talked about badminton player. Asked if Saina had rushed her comeback in the wake of her quarterfinal exit in Bangkok, Gopichand said: “We did not have enough time to work on her. Let’s see what we can do in the coming tournaments.”

After dominating the first game against Fanetri, Saina ought to have settled the matter in the second game when she was leading 19-16 and served for the match at 20-18. But Fanetri fought back to draw level at 20-20 and from there, both waged a grim battle point for point until Saina erred to concede at 27-29. However, there was no looking back in the third that the Indian clinched in no time. Saina will meet Japan’s Sayaka Takahashi, ranked 24th, in the second round.

Meanwhile, the mixed doubles pair of Tarun Kona and Ashwini Ponnappa advanced with a Praveen Jordan/ Vita Marissa of the host nation 21-18 14-21 25-23 in the first round. The Indians will take on the Polish duo of Robert Mateusiak and Nadiezda Zieba in the next round.