Saina Nehwal standing on the cusp of glory at the All England Championships

Saina Nehwal

Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal will face Spaniard Carolina Marin in the final of the $500,000 All England Championships for a chance at writing her name in the history books. The winner of this match will become the first woman from her country to win the prestigious trophy.

Nehwal and Marin are both seeded according to their World ranking, 3rd and 6th respectively at the tournament being held in Birmingham. Nobody can say that either player did not deserve their place in the final as the duo overcame some very tough matches on their way there.

The road to the final

Saina did not lose a single game in her journey to the final of this year’s first Super Series tournament. Marin has also been dominant en route to the final, having lost just a solitary game, back in her opening round clash.

Marin faced the ‘poster girl’ of Irish badminton, Chloe Magee, in her first match and the World No. 6 was put through a stern test. The 26-year-old, ranked 37 in the world, pushed Marin to the third set after the Spaniard had taken the opening game. Marin, however, dispatched Magee with ease in the final game to avoid a shock defeat in the opening round, winning 21-15, 15-21, 21-11.

Her next match brought her face-to-face with Thailand sensation Porntip Buranaprasertsuk. This time she did not take long to qualify for the next round after demolishing Porntip 21-10, 21-16. In the quarter-final she went up against Sung Ji Hyun of South Korea and once again emerged unscathed taking the closely-fought match in straight sets 21-18, 22-20. Tai Tzu Ying was the final victim in the Spaniard’s run to the final as the Chinese Taipei player lost 18-21, 11-21.

Saina opened her campaign at the All England Championships with an easy 21-8, 21-12 win over Indonesian Bellaetrix Manuputty. The next target in her sights was South Korea’s Kim Hyo Min. This 46-minute encounter saw the Indian overcome the Korean in straight sets 21-15, 21-15.

The quarter-final was arguably her toughest test as she faced Chinese Wang Yihan, who despite dropping down to No. 5 in the world held an impressive 8-1 head-to-head record over Saina. The first set was an extremely tight affair which the London Olympic Bronze medallist just shaded. That game win gave Saina all the confidence she required to slightly improve the skewed win-loss ratio she had with Yihan as she sailed to the semi-final sealing the match 21-19, 21-6 with a dominant second half performance.

Another Chinese challenge, Sun Yu, in the semi-final stood between the Indian and her quest of becoming the first woman from the subcontinent to reach the final of the All England Championships. Saina started slowly in both games, but did not let the Chinese get a sniff in the second halves of both games as she sealed a place in the final with a 21-13, 21-13 win over the surprise semi-finalist, Sun.

Head-to-head record

Saina Nehwal (L) and Carolina Marin (R)

Saina and Marin have faced each other just 3 times and if history is any indication, there is no stopping the Indian from becoming just the third Indian ever to win the All England Championships, emulating Prakash Padukone and former Coach Pullela Gopichand. Saina enjoys a 3-0 record over Marin, with the Spaniard taking just a single game in all of those encounters.

They first met back in 2013 in Indonesia which Saina won 21-16, 21-19. The 24-year-old emerged victorious Down Under at the Star Australian Open in 2014 with the scoreboard reading 21-18 21-11. Their most recent fixture, however, was at home in the Syed Modi International which turned out to be a close affair as the 21-year-old took the first game and had two match points in the second before Saina stamped her authority in the match and won it 19-21, 25-23, 21-16.

The difference in the two has gradually decreased over time as Marin gained experience and this time Saina will have to dig deep if she wants to keep her record against the World No. 6 flawless.

Prediction

Although, Saina has not dropped a single game throughout the tournament and enjoys a healthy record against Marin, the match will be anything but a straight-forward Saina win. The Spaniard has improved her game leaps and bounds and deservedly awaits the Indian challenge in the final.

However, Saina is known to raise her game on the big occasions and there can be none bigger than the chance to join the illustrious company of Padukone and Gopichand as the only Indians to have won the All England. The lack of a Super Series win in Marin’s quiver could prove costly for her against Saina, who has won 8 Super Series titles in her career so far.

So, the best bet for this match would be a Saina Nehwal win in 3 games.

The match is scheduled to be the second match on the day and will begin at approximately 6.30 pm IST.