Saina Nehwal to clash with Lin Wang in Indonesian Open final

Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal survived a gruelling battle with Chinese Lan Lu to advance to the final of the Indonesian Open Super Series in Jakarta on Saturday.

Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal survived a gruelling battle with Chinese Lan Lu to advance to the final of the Indonesian Open Super Series in Jakarta on Saturday.

India's Saina Nehwal reacts after beating China's Lu Lan 25-23, 21-19 in the semi-final at the Indonesia Open in Jakarta on Saturday.

Sixth-seed Saina beat the seventh-seed Lu 25-23, 21-19 to set up a title clash against Chinese third-seed Lin Wang in tomorrow's final.

World number three Lin beat eighth-seed Xingfang Xie 21-19, 21-13 in the second semi-final of the day.

In an edge-of-the-seat thrilling encounter, that saw fortunes fluctuating frequently between the two shuttlers, it was Saina, who held her nerves to emerge the eventual and well-deserved winner.

In the first game, Saina and Lu battled tooth and nail and were on even keel, moving from 13-13 to 23-23 before the Hyderabadi sealed the game 25-23. However, Not willing to take it lying low, Lu made a dramatic comeback in the second game.

She raced away to 0-5 in Game Two but the world number 8 Indian clawed her way back into the tie to first draw parity at 13-all and then after more some see-saw battle, pocket the match.