HYDERABAD: From an outsider to title contender. Saina Nehwal’s run in the ongoing Denmark Open has been remarkable. Odds were stacked against her as she was handed a tough draw. Only a brave man would back her to reach the semis, let alone the finals. She was up against World No 2 Akane Yamaguchi in Round 2 itself. A player she last beat almost four years ago.
She passed the test with flying colours, winning in straight games. Next up was 2017 world champ Nozomi Okuhara. Okuhara had her nose in front and it looked as if the Japanese was going to keep up her recent dominance — three straight wins — over the Indian. But Saina fought back strongly and never gave up. Eventually, the Hyderabad shuttler emerged victorious in a match that lasted almost an hour.
Having done the almost-impossible, Saturday was a much more straightforward outing for the London Olympics bronze medallist as she made short work of Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung 21-11, 21-12 in the semis. Saina barely sweated as the match lasted just 30 minutes. And with that result, she earned a match against World No 1 Tai Tzu Ying in the final.
In the senior circuit for well over a decade, the 28-year-old’s outing in Odense is a big boost for her. “She has been moving really well on the courts. She is a player that feeds on confidence. And this tournament must give her a lot of it, considering she has beaten players such as (Akane) Yamaguchi and (Nozomi) Okuhara. Her win over Yamaguchi came with relative ease. That is also a good sign,” Saina’s former coach Vimal Kumar told Express.
In recent times, it was clear that she was not the same force she used to be in the past. Her will remained the same but the body wasn’t listening. A few weeks after the surgery, Saina had said, “It’s okay, many people will think my career will end and I won’t come back. I also think somewhere deep in my heart that maybe it is the end, so let’s see how it is. Maybe, you never know.” The doctor who had performed the surgery had also termed the injury as quite serious.
However, more than two years after going under the knife, her trophy cabinet has only swollen in size. From standing alongside PV Sindhu on the Worlds podium (Saina grabbed bronze) in 2017 to a singles gold at the Commonwealth Games earlier this year, she is still a force to be reckoned with.
Vimal believes her former ward can go on to defeat Ying. “Saina has a lot of confidence this time. She has always known the strategies but somehow has not been able to implement them. She needs to make Ying work before going into the attacking mode.”In the men’s singles semifinals, Kidambi Srikanth lost 16-21, 12-21 to Japanese world champion Kento Momota.vishal@newindianexpress.com