Saina sails into final of Malaysian Open

May 07, 2011 06:29 pm | Updated August 22, 2016 03:27 pm IST - Kuala Lampur

New Delhi: Saina Nehwal of India reacts on losing a point against Japan's Ai Goto in their women's singles round badminton match during India Open Super Series 2011 in New Delhi on Wednesday. Sania lost the game 17-21,19-21. PTI photo by Kamal Kishore (PTI4_27_2011_000326A)

New Delhi: Saina Nehwal of India reacts on losing a point against Japan's Ai Goto in their women's singles round badminton match during India Open Super Series 2011 in New Delhi on Wednesday. Sania lost the game 17-21,19-21. PTI photo by Kamal Kishore (PTI4_27_2011_000326A)

Top seed Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal stormed into the final of the Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold after scoring a convincing straight-game win over seventh seed Korean Ji Hyun Sung here on Saturday.

Saina, who had made a shock first round exit at the Indian Open Super Series last week, recorded a comfortable 21-14 21-13 win over her rival in just 35 minutes.

Saina will take on second seed Xin Wang of China in the summit clash on Sunday. Wang beat fourth seed Korean Youn Joo Bae 21-6 21-19 in the other semifinal.

Saina played aggressively and put up a dominating show as she scored 11 points through smashes to two of Sung. Of the 69 points, Saina emerged winner on 42 occasions.

The Indian led the first game all through after being tied 3-3. Her Korean opponent closed in at 11-16 but Saina won four straight points to take a 20-11 lead before taking the game easily.

In the second game, Saina played even better as he was ahead from the very beginning. She took a 4-0 lead and then surged to 13-3 before Sung made a fightback.

The Korean closed the gap at 13-16 but Saina stopped her right in her tracks by winning five straight points without reply to take the second game and wrap up the match.

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