Former world number 1 Saina Nehwal earned the bragging rights by beating her compatriot and world number 3 PV Sindhu in straight games to enter the semifinal of Indonesian Masters in Jkarta.
The world number 12 packed off her 22-year-old opponent 21-13, 21-19 in straight games in the quarter-finals to reach her first semi-final since winning the bronze medal in the BWF World Championship in August last year.
Nehwal, who had got the better of the Rio Olympics silver medallist to claim the National title last year, ensured that Sindhu had little chance to use her big forehand smash and played the shuttle more on her opponent’s body.
It looked like Sindhu, who has won their last of the two encounters on the tour, had a counter plan in the opening game as she came from behind to level the score at 9-9. But Nehwal raised the tempo of the exchanges after going into the break with a two point advantage and pocketed the opening game in just 14 minutes as her opponent even struggled to control the lifts to the backhand corner.
As Saina moved to a more difficult side of the court Sindhu managed to open up a 10-5 lead by taking advantage of her opponent’s unforced errors. She kept pushing the shuttle to the back court.
But Nehwal brought all her experience into play as she began pressurising her much younger opponent by once again changing the pace of the rallies, and to her credit, retrieved a lot of downward strokes to draw level at 10-10.
Though Sindhu managed to take the next point and stayed close to Nehwal till 14-14, the world number 12 knew exactly when it was time to target the opponent’s midriff and take quick points.
But just like the Nationals final in Nagpur, the multiple-time Indonesia Open champion was made to dig deep in the business end of the second game. Sindhu saved two match points before Nehwal found the winner and a place in the semi-finals against former world champion Ratchnok Intanon. The Thai shuttler defeated reigning world champion Nozomi Okuhara 21-17, 21-10 in the other quarter-final.