Financial Express, Mumbai: After exactly 12 months in the wilderness of losses, Saina Nehwal finally returned to winning ways on Sunday, defending her Swiss Open Grand Prix title against China’s Shixian Wang. The 22-year-old beat two Chinese, including Wang, for the title, snapping a frustrating streak of three losses to opponents from the powerhouse in tournament finals in 2011. “Playing a Chinese is never easy. I needed one big match to find my rhythm, and it worked out perfectly today. I was relaxed, took no pressure at all, and was picking every shuttle. I was feeling good about my game and enjoyed a match thoroughly after a long time. I didn’t let nervousness mess up my game,” Saina said. “I can say now that I’ve got my form back. Forcing a Chinese rival to make errors was satisfying,” she added of her win over Wang, who she had incidentally beaten to win her last Super Series title in December 2010 at Hong Kong. More than the win itself, it was the manner of her 21-19 21-16 victory over World No.3 Wang that would give Saina the confidence she needs in an Olympic year, something coach P Gopichand agrees. “She was very attacking from the beginning in this match. And though Shixian engaged her in long rallies and was playing well, today Saina asserted herself with fantastic domination from the back of the court. She was also superlative at the net,” he said. A quarter of her winners in the match came through smashes (11, against Wang’s 7) and the Hyderabadi ran up a 11-3 lead in the first game at the first changeover on the basis of her net-play. What was most heartening for Gopichand was her ability to grab the first game 21-19 after the Chinese had rallied back to level the scores at 16-all. In the second, Saina made up for a 11-7 deficit after she switched sides of the drift and was able to close out the match at 21-16, sealing with a smash in 48 minutes. “Titles don’t come easily these days, and you have to get past 2-3 Chinese for every Sunday victory in any tournament,” Gopichand said. “We’ve made a few changes to her game. But Saina has to plan for 5-6 Chinese every week,” he added. It started with her quarterfinal win against Xiu Lin — current No. 12 but a No.5 a week ago. “I hadn’t beaten a Chinese for a while. Moreover, I was losing in semis and finals and there was no break, which made the wait seem even longer,” she confessed. After claiming her first Chinese victim, and with Yihan Wang (World No.1) and Yanjiao Jiang conceding matches at Basel, Saina sniffed her chance. “I hadn’t played Shixian for a long time, and things got a little tight at the end of the first set. But I’m glad I could wrap it up in straight games, because I’ve been dragged into deciders too often,” she said. For now, she is more interested in finding out what her team mates have planned for her birthday (she turned 22 on Saturday). “I couldn’t celebrate because the birthday came right in the middle of the event. But now I’m keen to know what surprise they have planned for me!” she said.Source: Financial Express, Image: flickr,com
