Saina Nehwal's Malaysia Open campaign ends

Li Xuerui of China managed to get the better of Saina Nehwal in a nail-biting semi-final at the Malaysia Open.

In a match that had two champions trying to outdo one another, not merely in the pursuit of victory, but also in terms of wowing the crows, World Number one Saina Nehwal lost to tounrment top seed Li Xuerui of China, 21-13, 17-21, 20-22 in the semi-final of the Malaysia Open. The loss brought the curtains down on what was truly an amazing campaign for Saina.

For Li, it was time to exact revenge on the Indian ace, who dislodged her from the apex of the rankings last week. After Saina took the first game with relative ease, 21-13, Li bounced back sharply, taking a hard fought second game 21-17, forcing the match into a third game. Going into the deciding set, Li had the momentum on her side.

Li, fighting a troublesome knee called for regular timeouts in the final game. The pace of the match, pulsating up till that point, reduced drastically owing to Li’s restricted movement on the court.

At the time of the changeover in the third game, Saina had a 11-7 lead over her opponent, one that was quickly snatched away from her as Li, refusing to succumb to her injury dictated the pace of the rallies, moving Saina all around the court and bridged the gap, winning five points in a row, to equal the Indian at 12 points all.

From that point onwards, both players gave little away, matching one another stroke for stroke. At 15 points all, Saina won an important point to make it 16-15 before squandering the lead with an error that allowed Li to even the scores.

Both players refusing to yield even an inch, the third game was locked at 20 points all, before Li held her nerve to close out the match at 22-20. Li will face All England champion Carolina Marin, who took out Wang Shixian of China 21-17, 24-22 in the other semi-final.