Unknown to Saina Nehwal, minutes before her match was to start, the curtain raiser to her own second round game was being played on court one
Unknown to Saina Nehwal, minutes before her match was to start, the curtain raiser to her own second round game was being played on court one. Hers was a kind of sequel to it. Former Olympic and world champion Indonesia's Taufik Hidayat was struggling against an unseeded opponent from Chinese Taipei Yu Hsin Hsieh.
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| India's Saina Nehwal returns to Taiwanese Hsiao Huan Chen during their women's singles second round match at the Badminton World Championships in Paris yesterday. Nehwal won 20-22, 21-15, 21-8. pic/AFP |
Outplayed for most of the first game, Hidayat, a crowd favourite lost 19-21. It seemed that Hidayat had taken his opponent for granted. Urgency crept back into Hidayat's game but a lucky call on the line at 19-20 saved him from possible elimination and he won the last two games 21-19, 21-9.
Nehwal, World No 2 and an awesome reputation to maintain started slowly and completely lost her way. She did lead 20-18 but unforced errors opened up the game as Hsian Huan Chen won 22-20. Nehwal looked worried. Her drop shots, she can do them blindfolded, were falling off the line and some hitting the net. Chen, meanwhile, knew the Indian was a little uptight and used that to her advantage.
"It's not something unusual," said Saina Nehwal.
"It's my first game after the bye in the opening match, so even though I have trained on these courts before the championships, it takes a little time to get adjusted."
Leads exchanged hands in the second game. A few fans did cry out "Saina, Saina" when Chen equalised at 12-12. Nehwal took her time as Chen served a high toss to the baseline. Nehwal leaned back and when you expected a smash to the corner, deftly produced a drop shot that kissed the net and dropped on Chen's side as the Chinese Taipei girl scrambled without success to pick it up. Nehwal sensed the moment like most champions do. Experience teaches them to exploit the situation. Avoiding errors and having found the length on her drop shots, she held onto her lead to win 21-15. "It wasn't like a turning moment," said Nehwal. "But, yes, the drop shot helped as I forced the issue and didn't let go."
Reeling off seven straight points in the decider, Nehwal was galloping to victory. At 15-2, she had seven winners off her drop shots. Serving for the game at 20-8, Chen knew the match was gone as Nehwal won the decider 21-8.
Nehwal confidently says the thought of her losing was never there. "These are situations that you have to tackle as a player," she says. "For me, it's simply to react to the match and understand what is
needed to win."
