Saina shows no signs of fatigue in winning first round
By IANSWednesday, August 12, 2009
HYDERABAD - India’s Saina Nehwal defeated Anastasia Prokopenko of Russia 21-10, 21-17 to advance to the pre-quarterfinals of the World Badminton Championships here Wednesday.
It took World No 6. Saina a mere 27 minutes to dispatch the feeble Russian challenger. She will next face 10th seed Petya Nedelcheva of Bulgaria who beat Aiying Xing of Singapore 26-24, 19-21, 21-16 in a tough encounter.
Saina, who was down with chicken-pox a week back, showed no signs of tiredness even though she committed a couple of unforced errors in the second game.
Prokopenko was no match for the Indian who engaged her Russian opponent in long rallies before going for the kill.
Saina, India’s best medal hope in the tournament, said she had done her homework for the match.
“I was playing her for the first time. She also plays doubles and yesterday I came to see her match. I was ready with a plan.”
“She is a very good net player and is good with the dribble. She has a good smash. So, I decided to go more for rallies than quick-finishing smashes.”
“I was not feeling tired so that’s a good sign. But tomorrow I face a tougher opponent and will have a better idea of my fitness level,” said Saina, who got a bye in the first round.
On the pressure to play at home, Saina said she is not bogged down by expectations.
“I am not feeling any pressure, the crowd was good and it will only help the sport in the country,” she said.
Saina kept herself ahead in the first game and never looked in trouble. She opened up a 6-3 lead and then grabbed four points at 12-8 to race to 16-8. She was in command from 16-10 and took five points in a reel.
The second game was a bit close as Saina’s errors allowed Anastasia to nose ahead 7-6. But Saina managed to break free from 13-14 with some deceptive drop shots.
“Because of the drift from one end, the shuttle was coming faster. And on the other side it’s slow. But it’s better than it was in the Indian Open when there was more drift.
In the men’s doubles, Akshay Dewalkar and Jishnu Sanyal lost to 16th seed Vitalij Durkin and Alexandr Nikolaenko of Russia 21-17, 13-21, 18-21 in the second round.
