Saina Nehwal has started her Indonesia Open campaign on the right note, beating eighth seed Ratchanok Intanon in a thrilling three-game affair on Tuesday. The final score read 17-21, 21-18, 21-12.
The Indian star may not have had a good season so far, but some glimpses of Saina have been visible when the former world number one appeared to be coming back to her best form. However, she has lacked consistency in most competitions after coming back from injury.
Coming to this Indonesia Open opening encounter against Intanon, it was always going to be tricky for the Indian shuttler. Saina showed some great character to move into the second round.
Despite playing some good badminton, she lost in the first game.
But that opening game loss did not peg her back, and she played even better in the next two games. Suddenly, there was an air of confidence in Saina's play – the way she moved around the court and played accurate shots from the baseline as well as the net.
She needs to maintain such level of play in the future rounds of the competition if she wants to claim this title. Besides Saina, PV Sindhu, who will feature later in the day is another Indian shuttler who will give it her all to win the title.
