Saina in Malaysia Open final

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 in Kuala Lumpur 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 tomorrow. Wang beat fourth seed Korean Youn Joo Bae 21-6 21-19 in the other semi-final.

Saina played aggressively and put up a dominating show as she scored 11 points through smashes to two of Sung. Of all 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.