Saina enters title clash

Jakarta: Saina Nehwal made a perfect start to the new season, reaching the women's singles final of the $350,000 Indonesia Masters with a thrilling straight-game win over World No 4 Ratchanok Inthanon of Thailand on Saturday.

The former World No 1, who has won thrice in Indonesia, dished out a spirited performance to overcome a fighting Ratchanok 21-19 21-19 in the semifinal lasting 48 minutes.

Saina, who had an 8-5 head-to-head record against the 2013 world champion Ratchanok, displayed tremendous fighting spirit as she erased a 6-10 deficit in the opening game and held on to the fort despite a late charge by the Thai shuttler in the second game.

Saina, who reached the final of an international competition after a year following her title triumph at Malaysia Masters last year, will play World No 1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei or Chinese eighth seed He Bingjiao in the final on Sunday.

In the opening game, Ratchanok opened up a 3-1 lead early on. Saina slowly tried to claw back and produced an excellent return from the back of the court which kissed the sideline to make it 5-5.

However, she erred in her serve and then committed a couple of errors to allow Ratchanok lead 8-5. Saina won an exceptional rally next but Ratchanok produced a brilliant straight smash and a cross-court drop to move to 10-7.