Three times champion at the same place, Saina Nehwal of India made a great start to the new season but felt just short as world number 1 Tai Tzu Ying defeated her in the final of Indonesian Masters. The world number 12 lost 9-21, 13-21 in straight sets.
Playing the final of an international tournament after a year, Saina, who returned to form after making a comeback from an ankle injury, failed to lift the veil of deception put by Tai Tzu and went down for the seventh successive time against her opponent in just 27 minutes in a completely lop-sided final.
Tai Tzu has now defeated the former world No.1 Indian nine times in their last 10 meetings. Saina had enjoyed early success against the Taiwanese till 2011 but the Indian has beaten her only once at the 2013 Swiss Open ever since.
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Tai Tzu looked very sharp from the word go and jumped to a 10-2 lead early on. Saina grabbed a point after dominating a rally but the Taiwan player entered the break with a comfortable 11-3 lead.
Saina tried to make a comeback and gathered a few points after the break but couldn’t keep Tai Tzu away.
At 7-12, the duo engaged in an epic 43-shot rally which ended with Saina hitting out. She then lost a video referral to concede another point as Tai Tzu reached 14-7.
Saina had a stellar run in the tournament as she defeated her compatriot PV Sindhu in the quarterfinal and world number 4 Ratchanok Inthanon in the semifinal.