(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) World champ Chen storms into final; Saina and Akane beaten Chen Long of China in action against Kidambi Srikanth of India. — KT photo by Rahul Gajjar
Dubai — Chinese Taipei’s teenage prodigy Tai Tzu Ying outpaced Saina Nehwal of India 11-21 21-13 21-9 in the first women’s singles semifinal of the $1 million MetLife Destination Dubai World Superseries Finals Saturday night.
South Korea’s Sung Ji-Hyun unexpectedly found the going smooth against the normally tenacious Akane Yamaguchi (Japan) for a 21-13 21-13 win and a place in the final against Tai tonight (Sunday).
In the men’s singles final also tonight (Sunday) world champion Chen Long of China will lock horns with the winner of the all-Danish men’s singles semifinal between Hans-Kristian Vittinghus and Jan O Jorgensen which was to take place later Saturday night.
In the men’s singles first semifinal Kidambi Srikanth enjoyed court superiority with brilliant handling of Chen’s smashes and dangerous net play to lead 14-8 and later 17-14. On his way to this position the Hyderabad lad made a full left dive retrieval to see the 2500 odd spectators go into a thunderous roar.
But the type of lapses that felled Srikanth in the last Group B match on Friday crept into his game again on Saturday.
His length and judgment of the mid court returns were all of a sudden in a mess which saw him squander the lead and eventually Chen sat on 18all.
There was no stopping the Chinese giant as he steamed to 19-18 before wrapping up for a 1-0 sitting in one go.
In the second set Chen was the master we know him to be as his opponent made more unforced errors than he can remember.
All of a sudden the next king in the making in the sport after the magnificent emperor Lin Dan Chen was all over the place to compound Srikanth’s woes. Chen led 13-6 in the second session then 16-7 to stamp his class for a 21-9 win (2-0).
“Chen is in a league of his own but I have the confidence to overcome him one day as I keep learning every day. I have to concentrate a lot harder and try to keep my top 10 status intact for the moment” said Srikanth.
Chen said: “Srikanth plays a unique type of game and this unsettled me initially. For the final I have a different approach in mind which should be more positive from the beginning.”
Saina stroked her way to a super start (14-5) against a tentative Tai who despite not conceding soft points struggled against the clever net play and deep returns to her baseline.
The trend continued till Tai went all out to narrow the lead which she did to a certain extent but Saina anticipated well to keep the cushion intact.
The first set came the easy way for the Indian ace as Tai missed out on the few openings that were presented to her.
The short comeback in set one seemed to have inspired Tai in the second and third as Saina went into an error prone phase that cost her dearly much to the disappointment of the large weekend crowd.
Tai executed an unbelievable flat swing backhand that left everyone Saina included stunned when the scoreline read 7-3 in favour of the Taipei teenager in the rubber.
Tai said: “Saina is a powerful player with every stroke in the game. Today I was able to use the experience of having played her right from the Copenhagen Danish Open two years ago and the Hong Kong Open three weeks ago. The crowds were for her but this spurs me to do even better whether it is negative or positive. I like the atmosphere when it is packed to the full.” Saina said: “It’s one of those days when stroke making becomes a challenge by itself and I felt a little tired today. The crowd was again there fully behind me but overall I was bit down. This does not take away any credit from Tai who can return and attack at unexpected moments.”
monikhaleejtimes.com
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