Saina Nehwal earned the bragging rights over compatriot PV Sindhu in their first encounter outside the country as the world number 12 packed off her 22-year-old opponent in straight games in the quarter-finals of the Indonesia Masters badminton tournament in Jakarta on Friday.
The 27-year-old had a clear strategy of keeping the trajectory of the shuttle flatter and rallies shorter. She dominated the exchanges through the 37 minute encounter to win 21-13, 21-19 and reach her first semi-final since winning the bronze medal in the BWF World Championship in August last year.
Nehwal, who had got the better of the Rio Olympics silver medallist to claim the National title last year, ensured that Sindhu had little chance to use her big forehand smash and played the shuttle more on her opponents body.
It looked like Sindhu, who has won their last of the two encounters on the tour, had a counter plan in the opening game as she came from behind to level the score at 9-9. But Nehwal raised the tempo of the exchanges after going into the break with a two point advantage and pocketed the opening game in just 14 minutes as her opponent even struggled to control the lifts to the backhand corner.
Nehwal’s game plan was tested in the second game as she moved to a more difficult side of the court and Sindhu managed to open up a 10-5 lead, taking advantage of her opponent’s unforced errors while pushing the shuttle to the back court.
But Nehwal brought all her experience into play as she began pressurising her much younger opponent by once again changing the pace of the rallies, and to her credit, retrieved a lot of downward strokes to draw level at 10-10.
Though Sindhu managed to take the next point and stayed close to Nehwal till 14-14, the world number 12 knew exactly when it was time to target the opponent’s midriff and take quick points.
But just like the Nationals final in Nagpur, the multiple-time Indonesia Open champion was made to dig deep in the business end of the second game. Sindhu saved two match points before Nehwal found the winner and a place in the semi-finals against former world champion Ratchnok Intanon. The Thai shuttler defeated reigning world champion Nozomi Okuhara 21-17, 21-10 in the other quarter-final.