Saina Nehwal bagged her first title on the BWF circuit since the Malaysia Masters GP gold crown back in 2017 after world champion Carolina Marin was forced to concede the women’s singles final in the Indonesia Masters BWF Tour Super 500 tournament following a knee injury.
The Spaniard was clearly the better player during the 10 minutes she was on court and had raced to a 9-2 lead when she landed awkwardly on her right leg while going for an overhead shot, and was immediately in tears.
The three-time world champion did try to continue and won another point but decided to concede after just two points as her movements were clearly hampered, and the pain, unbearable.
Nehwal, who had her share of injuries in the last few years, was quick to console Marin and admitted that it was unfortunate to see any player getting injured this way. “It’s a very important year for all of us,” Nehwal said after the match. “This was not good at all. She started off very well today but it was very unfortunate.”
Antonsen upsets Momota
Earlier, Denmark’s Anders Antonsen won his first title on the BWF World Tour when he upset top seed and world champion Kenta Momota of Japan 21-16, 14-21, 21-16.
Momota, who had not dropped a game in the tournament before the final, was the runaway favourite to clinch the title in Jakarta but Antonsen showed the guile and the patience to force the Japanese into playing false shots.
That allowed him to pocket the opening game but Momota came back stronger in the second, dominating the rallies and forcing a decider.
In the decider, Momota was first to get off the blocks but Antonsen kept pace with the Japanese world no 1 during the long rallies. The Dane’s variation at the net and cross courts smashes helped him earn six match points. Momota managed to save two of them but made a mistake on the third as he mistimed an overhead drop and Antonsen went wild, throwing his t-shirt in the stadium and going on a celebratory lap.