XtraTime Web Desk: The World No.1 shown her class to win the Denmark open title beating Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal 21-13, 13-21, 21-6. After losing the first game Saina came back strongly as she won the second game by eight points. Tai never really allowed Saina to attack from the front in the third game and in fact, she enjoyed indulging in rallies. An excellent repertoire of strokes allowed Tai to manipulate the pace of the rallies.
The Indian shuttler last defeated Tai in 2013 since then the Chinese Taipei shuttler has been victorious in the last 11 matches between the two.
Saina started off the first game with a serving error and Tai Tzu surged ahead 4-1 in no time. Tai exhibited her best game as she won a point after a 36-shot rally. Saina seemed to have not found her elements and committed regular errors to give Tai 9-3 lead as the Chinese Taipei shuttler went into the break with a comfortable 11-5 lead in the first game.
After the break, Saina probably won the point of the match when she came up with a backhand return, to which Tai had no reply. Tai continued to have the upper hand with Saina also helping her with continuous errors. Tai fired a jumping smash to make it 18-13 and trapped Saina in her deceptive drop shot before she sealed the deal 21-13 in 15 minutes.
Saina conceded a point after a 41 shot-rally. The Indian moved ahead 7-3 after winning points on jumping smash. A regular error of judgment by Tai handed Saina 9-4 lead as she had a six-point advantage at the break leading 11-5.
Tai reduced the deficit by winning three straight points before she committed an error. Nothing was going in Tai’s way in the second game as her smashes were landing outside the line. Saina screamed her heart out after Tai made two consecutive errors that put her 17-9 ahead.
Tai ended her error streak with a smash and then came up with the rally of the match that finished with Saina’s error. But it did not deter Saina at all as she kept her nerves to clinch the second game 21-13 and forced the match into the decider.
The scores were locked at 2-2 in the third and deciding game before Tai shifted gears and earned nine straight points and headed into the break with an 11-2 lead. The break did not bring any good fortune for Saina as she was seen struggling to catch Tai’s pace in the game and eventually lost 6-21.