Saina breaks a 'jinx'
Srikanth doubles India's joy
Finally, Saina Nehwal broke her ‘jinx’ in the $275,000 India Open badminton championship here and K. Srikanth doubled India's joy.
In what turned out to be a repeat Indian ‘double’ as seen in the China Open last November, Saina and Srikanth reinforced their status among the strongest non-Chinese players in the world.
As though to mark her newly-acquired stature as the World’s No. 1-in-waiting, Saina blitzed past former World champion Ratchanok Intanon 21-16, 21-14 for her ninth BWF Superseries title and first National Open before a packed house at the Siri Fort Sports Complex.
The Thai girl, winner here in 2013, was no match for a determined Saina who led throughout the 49-minute contest. Even in their previous meeting, here in the Uber Cup in May last year, Saina posted a straight-game victory.
Saina’s previous-best performance in five previous appearances since 2011 was the quarterfinal finish last year.
After Ratchanok’s brilliant comeback in Saturday’s semifinals against the reigning World champion Carolina Marin, a close-contest final was expected but Saina’s best turned it into a one-sided match. This was Saina’s sixth victory over Ratchanok in nine meetings.
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