Saina

Kuala Lumpur: Saina Nehwal staved off the challenge from Hsiao Huan Chen of Chinese Taipei in an edge-of-the-seat second round match to enter the quarter finals of the Malaysian Super Series on Thursday.

World No. 10 Saina beat Chen 21-16, 19-21, 21-19 in a thrilling battle that lasted 48 minutes.

In the quarter final, Saina will face Hongyan Pi of France whom she had defeated in the round-robin league of World Super Series Masters finals here last month.

In the first game, Saina did not give any chance to her opponent and opened up a 13-9 lead and although Chen tried to draw level, Saina gradually moved on to 17-13 before wrapping the game 21-16.

Stung by the reversal, Chen rallied to open an 8-6 lead in the second game and then moved to 11-8. Even though Saina drew level at 12-12, the Chinese Taipei shuttler turned the table and pocketed and the game 21-19 to stay afloat.

With the match positioned 1-1, the third game was a virtual cliffhanger with Chen Chen wresting early initiative and taking a three-point lead at 12-9.

Pushed to the brink, Saina, a quarter finalist in the Beijing Olympics, battled her heart out, drawing level at 12-12 and going neck-and-neck at 14-14, 16-16 and 18-18.

Levelled at 19-all, the 18-year-old Indian broke free and grabbed the next two points to seal the game.

“It was a very tough match. I really had to stretch a lot. She has a very good defence and a good backhand as well,” Saina said.

“The first game was easy but after that she was excellent, she was picking up all the shots and the third game was really close.

“She was leading throughout the third game and some line calls also went against me. When we were 16-all, Chen got two points and I lost my cool. I am happy I pulled it off at last,” Saina said.

However, there was disappointment for other Indians in the fray — Chetan Anand and Anup Sridhar.

Anup Sridhar played his heart out but failed to get past Indonesia’s world No. 4 Sony Dwi Kuncoro and went down 12-21, 18-21 in 34 minutes.

In contrast, Chetan was no match for world No. 5 Peter Hoeg Gade of Denmark, who spanked the Indian 21-7, 21-8 in just 20 minutes.

In the mixed doubles match as the Indian pair of V Diju and Jwala Gutta was sent packing 21-18, 21-14 by local pair Kien Keat Koo and Hui Lin Ng in the second round. (PTI)