Saina Nehwal reserved her best for the last, continuing her dominance over Spaniard Carolina Marin with a gritty 19-21, 25-23, 21-16 win to retain the title at the Syed Modi International India Masters badminton tournament here on Sunday.
The 79-minute long battle, the longest match of the tournament, was a test of body and mind as Saina emerged victorious to register her third win over Carolina in as many encounters.
The match was a contrast to the men’s title clash, where P. Kashyap regained the title with a 23-21, 23-21 victory over compatriot and top seed K. Srikanth.
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Quick at the net and off the back of the court, Marin moved Saina around. The Indian tossed high in a change of serve to counter Marin’s pace. She faltered in the first but came back in the second, judging her strokes well and leaving the out-going ones well.
Marin lost six straight points in the decider, going from 3-3 to 3-9, to give Saina the edge and the Indian powered on from there to her fourth title of the tournament. Among the men, there was little to between Kashyap and Srikanth and it was evident in the match. At no point was there more than a three-point difference between the two top Indian shuttlers.
The lead kept fluctuating through the match as Kashyap tried to mix his game, alternately throwing the shuttle behind Srikanth and dropping it close to the net.
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Both smashed hard, rallied at the net and scurried to all corners of the court to retrieve, trying to keep the shuttle in play and hoping for the other to err.
Kashyap took the first game at 23-21, smashing hard down the line leaving no chance for Srikanth to return.
The second was similar. At 19-20, a long rally ended in Kashyap smashing hard at the net to level scores. Three points later, another powerful smash down the centre was sent into the net by Srikanth to send Kashyap screaming in relief.
The results: Finals: Men: P. Kashyap bt K. Srikanth 23-21, 23-21.
Doubles: Mathias Boe & Carsten Mogensen (Den) bt Vladimir Ivanov & Ivan Sozonov (Rus) 21-9, 22-20.
Women: Saina Nehwal bt Carolina Marin (Esp) 19-21, 25-23, 21-16.
Doubles: Amelia Alicia Anscelly & Fie Cho Soong (Mas) bt Vivian Kah Mun Hoo & Khe Wei Woon (Mas) 22-20, 21-15.
Mixed doubles: Riky Widianto & Puspita Richi Dili (Ina) bt Manu Attri & K. Maneesha 21-17, 21-17.