Former world number one Saina Nehwal, who was expected to break a 10-match losing streak against Tai Tzu-Ying of Taiwan in the final of the ongoing Denmark Open, has failed to break the jinx as she slumped to a defeat in the summit showdown of the tournament here on Sunday.
The 28-year-old settled for a silver medal after suffering a 13-21, 21-13, 6-21 defeat at the hands of her Taiwanese opponent.
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After having a smooth run in the tournament so far, Nehwal’s victory in the match was quite a possible thing to imagine but the Indian shuttler faced a terrible collapse by the end of the third game to lose the match.
Making a trailing start to the match, Nehwal seemed to have no answer to the attacking rallies of her world number one opponent. Tai Tzu never let the game slip out of her fist as she constantly maintained a healthy lead in the opening game.
Saina, who was trailing the game by 5-11 at one point, eventually stumbled to a 13-21 defeat helping her opponent to gain initial momentum.
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The Asian Games bronze-medallist, however, made a firing comeback in the second game playing some smashing shots on the court. With scoreline reading 18-11 in Nehwal’s favour in the second game, the Indian did not take much time to level things with Tai Tzu.
In the deciding game, Nehwal lost nine straight points to give her opponent an invincible lead. The world number ten could only manage to collect six points in the final game as she was completely outclassed by Tai Tzu, who eventually went on to win the Denmark Open title.
(ANI)