She might have been the lower ranked opponent on the day, but it did not look like that for long out in court No 1 at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow on Thursday, as Saina Nehwal pulled off a straight-game win over world No 3 Sung Ji Hyun 21-19, 21-15, in 47 minutes at the BWF Badminton World Championships.
The 12th seed was trailing the South Korean in both the games but fought back impressively to close the match out.
The match started with Sung Ji dictating the pace, running away to a 7-2 lead but Saina slowly began to exert her influence on the game, showing considerably more attacking verve than usual. And every time the second seed pulled away, Saina fought back with a combination of excellent retrieving at the net and deceptive drop shots. There were quite a few lengthy rallies in the match, but Saina showed her fitness is perhaps back to the best it’s been since Rio Olympics but maybe even getting better as the match progressed.
And, as the commentator on air noted, she did not give up and lived up to the reputation of a fighter on court. She was down 13-17 in game one, and she won that 21-19. And she was, in the second game, down 4-8 and then 7-11, ans she won that 21-15.
She will now feature in her seventh quarter-final at the World Championships, and will take on the winner of Kristy Gilmour and He Bingjao (sixth seed).
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