Saina Nehwal has been ousted from the Indonesia Open after losing her quarter finals clash against China's Wang Shixian in three set with the score reading 16-21, 21-12 and 21-18 on Friday.
This was Saina's second loss to Wang Shixian after she had lost her quarterfinals clash in the Australian Open as well last week. Though, the Indian raised her game a notch in the Indonesia Open, it was not enough to defeat Wang.
Saina started the quarters on a good note after taking the first set easily with an aggressive approach and Wang was not able to respond to Saina's ability. She was going for Wang's body and it worked well initially.
Saina came up with a similar approach in the second set as well, but Wang showed her class and put up a dominating display on both ends (baseline as well as net) to outclass Saina. Despite giving it her all, the Indian could not grab some crucial points.
Hence, the game moved onto the third set, which was the decider. Both the shuttlers started decently and Saina was looking comfortable as she had taken a 15-10 lead in the set. When one thought that she was closing in on a victory, Wang began to play a counter game and started to wait and unleash on Saina's mistake, which helped her level at 15-15.
The final few points of the game saw some great rallies, where neither player were willing to give up, making some superb shots in the process as well.
Later on, Saina made some crucial unforced errors, which led to her downfall and Wang began to take full toll and took the game 21-18.
Irrespective of the loss, the game lived up to the billing, where both the players entertained viewers around the world. With this win, Saina has a 6-7 win loss record against Wang.
Wang will meet Ratchanok Intanon in the semi-finals of the Indonesia Open.
