World No. 4 Saina Nehwal of India showed flashes of brilliance which was not good enough as she missed her date with history as the World champion and World No. 1 Wang Yihan recorded a come-from-behind 18-21, 21-13, 21-13 win in the women's singles final of the $ 500,000 BWF World Super Series badminton championship in China on Sunday afternoon.
It was a stunning start from the India's best known face in contemporary world badminton and who was apparently keen to wipe off all bad memories of this year. But, for the Swiss Open Super Series title, 2011 was otherwise filled with huge disappointments.
But, Wang was just too good for the Indian shuttler when it mattered most in the crucial phases of the 72-minute final.
To start with, Saina never gave the impression that she was up against a world champion, racing away to an 8-2 convincing lead, showing lot of aggression and coming up with some stunning body smashes. The way the Indian star engaged her opponent in long rallies was a treat to watch. And, she invariably got the better of the opponent with big points. To Saina's delight, Yihan served out at 9-11 at crucial juncture of the game. Though the scores were levelled 14-all later on and Yihan came up with her trademark cross-court forehand half-smashes, it was obvious that the Chinese world champion was under pressure in the face of some incredible rallies and splendid drops by Saina. When Saina smashed one hard into Yihan's body to take a 20-18 lead it was symbolic, perhaps, of her intent to dominate and she eventually wrapped up the first game to gain a huge psychological advantage.
In the second game, Yihan made amends and showed why she is such a class player, controlling the pace of the shuttle. The scores were levelled twice, four-all and 11-all, before the Chinese picked seven points in a row to take a huge 18-11 lead. That was the phase when Saina seemed to have lost focus as there were too many erratic returns and even missed out some easy points at the net too. And, Yihan essayed a backhand smash to clinch the game 21-13 and take the issue into the decider.
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