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Liu Zhou (China), Dec 14: World No.4 Saina Nehwal began her campaign at the season-ending Superseries Finals in emphatic fashion, beating world No.9 Bae Youn Joo 21-14 17-21 21-14 in just over an hour. The Finals, being played at Liu Zhou in China, has attracted the very best in the world for the first time. The Finals consists of round robin matches in two groups of four players each, and the two toppers in each group qualify for the semifinals. Only the eight best in the world have qualified for this tournament.The Superseries Finals was usually ignored by the Chinese, but this year they have come in full force, and thus the competition has added meaning.
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Saina, who has had a poor 2011 season with only one title, has plenty at stake. With a strong performance here, she can salvage something from the year, and prove that her loss of form was a temporary phase.
On Wednesday, she shot off in the best way possible, leading from start to finish against Bae, a strong defensive player from Korea. Saina established leads of 12-3 and 17-11 and was never threatened.
But Bae turned the tables in the second game, building up a lead after 5-all and keeping a fair distance against the Indian. Saina tried to bring down the deficit, and indeed came to 15-17, but the Korean held firm and equalized the match.
After some tense moments early in the third, the Indian again powered ahead by dominating the net, at which she won 11 points to Bae’s 6.Saina next plays Japanese left-hander Sayaka Sato. World No.3 Wang Xin is the most dangerous player in her group.
In other matches, Lee Chong Wei, Lin Dan and Peter Gade won their openers, but Taufik Hidayat bit the dust against Japanese Kenichi Tago. The biggest upset of the day was world No.1 Wang Yihan’s loss to Sung Ji Hyun. Other interesting results in all-China matches included Lin Dan’s three-game win over compatriot Chen Long, Chai Biao/ Guo Zhengdong beating the legendary world champs Cai Yun/ Fu Haifeng, and Zhang Nan/ Zhao Yunlei overcoming Xu Chen and Ma Jin.
