World number five Saina Nehwal once against proved that her preparations for the London Olympics were on track when the 22-year-old overcame a stiff challenge from Korea’s Ji Hyun Sung 22-20, 21-18 in just under an hour to enter the final of the Indonesia Super Series Premier badminton tournament in Jakarta on Saturday.
The Commonwealth Games gold medallist, who had come through a draining quarterfinal against Shixian Wang, looked a bit weary but had enough fuel in the tank to reach her fourth consecutive Indonesia Open final. She will now face China's Li Xuerui, who upset top seed Yihan Wang in the other semifinal.
Saina, who won the title here in 2009 and 2010, began confidently in the first game and raced to a 16-9 lead. But a spate of unforced errors allowed the Korean to claw back and the Indian had to save a game point before pocketing the game.
The Bharat Petroleum also had to stage a comeback in the second game but once she took the lead she never led the match out of her grasp.
While Saina was euphoric, compatriot P Kashyap saw his dream run in the competition come to a tame end when he failed to negotiate the guile of local hope Simon Santoso and went down 21-15, 21-12.
Results (semifinals):
Men’s singles: P Kashyap lost to 7-Simon Santoso (Indonesia) 15-21, 12-21
Women’s singles: 4-Saina Nehwal bt Ji Hyun Sung (Korea) 22-20, 21-18
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