JAKARTA: Assured of atleast a bronze at the World Badminton
Championship, ace shuttler Saina Nehwal today described her quarterfinal win as
"special" and said patience was the key to her success, here today.
"I am very lucky. It was like a final. It was very
special," said Saina after ekeing out a thrilling 21-15 19-21 21-19 win
over 2011 edition gold medallist and former World No. 1 Wang Yihan in an hour
and 12 minutes gruelling battle.
Saina
said she had a tough draw as she was playing two quality players -- Sayaka Takahashi and Wang Yihan -- in two days.
"The only thing that I was
thinking last two days is that Wang Yihan and me have been playing so many
matches and the record is 2-9 and she also won the Chinese Taipei Open, so I
was thinking my quarter was really tough as I also had to play Sayaka Takahashi
in the second round. She is also a good attacking player and then Wang Yihan,
so both the matches were tough for me," she said.
With
this win, the World No. 2 finally broke her jinx of finishing at the
quarterfinals in last five outings.
Talking
about the match, Saina said, "It was a tough match. At 13-9, she was
getting back in rhythm and she was picking up all my shots and the rallies were
really fast paced rallies.
"In
the third game, she was always leading by two points. So I was thinking that I
will have to play strokes which are safe and also keep the rallies going. She
wanted to play faster and I didn't want to do that and luckily the last few
points I played with lot of patience and I think it showed in the
results."
The 25-year-old will next take on Lindaweni Fanetri of Indonesia, whom she had beaten
twice in the past. However, Saina said it will be a fresh match and her
Indonesian opponent is also in good form.
"Linda is very strong, she is coming out very strong. She
beat Ratchanok Inthanon, Tai Tzu Ying,
so it will be tough. It will be a fresh match, I played two years back it will
be a different match. So you never know."
"I
didn't think about the finals. I mean, the semifinals in itself is a surprising
moment for me. In my mind it was I have to play my best and give my best and
actually right now I am still thinking about the match. It will be definitely a
different match for me," she said.
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