London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal continued her consistent run on the international circuit, making the semi-finals of the $200,000 Asia Badminton Championships, in Wuhan, China, on Friday.
In a battle of long rallies, the 26-year-old Indian held her nerve in tricky situations to eke out a 21-16, 21-19 victory over former World champion Shixian Wang of China in a women's singles quarter-final that lasted 56 minutes.
The world No 8 Indian, who had registered semi-final finishes in the Swiss Grand Prix Gold, India Super Series and Malaysia Super Series Premier Open before skipping the Singapore Open, will take on the winner of the match between Japan's Nozomi Okuhara and China's Yihan Wang.
Saina, who had lost the last two meetings with Wang, was patient during the energy-sapping rallies but many a time failed to control the shuttle and lost points by hitting wide and long.
In the opening game, she led 3-0 and held a narrow 11-10 advantage at the break, but pocketed four straight points to lead 15-10.
Wang narrowed it down to 16-17, but the Indian soon gained a healthy four-point lead before taking the game.
In the second game, Saina again raced to a 3-0 lead before Wang snapped it with a smash.
Saina produced a cross-court smash but hit long next. The Indian committed a series of unforced errors to allow Wang narrow the lead to 5-6.
The Chinese clawed back after catching Saina at the forehand corner near the net.
Then Saina left one at the back to allow Wang lead 10-9 and tapped another one out as Wang led 11-9 at the break.
The battle continued after the interval and at 11-15, Saina gained three points to make it 14-15. A good net exchange saw the Indian draw parity to 16-16. Scores moved neck and neck till 19-19.
A net error by the Chinese then gave Saina the lead, and with Wang hitting another return at the net meant the Indian was celebrating.
