H S Prannoy failed to get past Chen Long in the semifinals. File photoWuhan (China): Indian challenge ended at the Badminton Asia Championships after Saina Nehwal and H S Prannoy went down fighting in the women's and men's singles semifinals here on Saturday.
Saina, who had clinched her second gold medal at the Commonwealth Games earlier this month, played out of her skin, but could not get past world No. 2 and defending champion Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei, losing 25-27, 19-21 in an edge-of-the seat thriller. Tai will meet Chen Yufei of China in Sunday's final. Chen beat Sung Ji Hyun of South Korea 21-12, 21-13 in the semifinal.
For Saina, it was her eighth straight loss to Tai Tzu in 16 meetings and third defeat of the season. She had lost to her nemesis at the Indonesia Open final and All England Championship this year but unlike those defeats, it turned out to be a thrilling contest as Saina gave ample display of her new-found confidence and fitness.
In a fast-paced contest where fortunes fluctuated too often, it was Tai Tzu who made a roaring 4-1 start with her delightful touches. She held on to her three-point advantage at 6-3 before a few loose shots from her helped Saina to narrow the gap to one point.
However, a precise Tai grabbed three quick points to lead 9-5 before entering the break at 11-6 after Saina's attempted drop went wide.
After the breather, Saina clawed back at 15-15 with a brilliant angled return. From there on, Saina kept the pressure on her rival to move to 17-17 and grabbed an 18-17 lead for the first time.
Saina held a two game point advantage at 20-18. But Tai Tzu saved one with a drop shot and then Saina made a judgement error to allow Tai Tzu make it 20-20. Saina then sent a return long and it was advantage Tai Tzu but she smashed the next one at the net.
The duo continued to look for ways to outwit each other as game points exchanged hands. In the end, Saina wasted four chances, while Tai Tzu converted on her fourth opportunity to pocket the opening game.
In the second game, Saina continued in the same vein, adding power to her smashes and riding on her opponent's errors to grab a 4-3 lead.
Tai Tzu covered the court brilliantly and moved to a 10-7 lead when Saina hit wide. But the Indian unleashed an accurate smash next and won another point. However, Saina missed the next point to give a slender 11-9 lead to Tai Tzu at the break.
Tai Tzu continued with her angled returns and moved to a 13-9 lead before moving to 14-11. Saina gathered a few points with her smashes and soon drew parity at 15-15 when Tai Tzu hit the net.
The Indian faltered in a net dribble next before levelling at 17-17 when Tai Tzu missed the line. Another net stroke going to net gave Saina an 18-17 lead. Saina gathered another point but lost a referral next as she led 19-18.
At this crucial moment, Saina missed the baseline with her return going out to be at 19-19. She made another judgement error at the back line to give two match points to Tai Tzu and lost the match when she again hit wide.
Prannoy pays the price
World No.10 Prannoy paid the price for being too erratic as he went down 16-21, 18-21 to Olympic champion Chen Long of China in 52 minutes.
Prannoy started on a positive note as he opened up a 5-2 lead early on but Chen erased the deficit with three quick points. The Indian tried to be patient during the rallies and it worked as Chen hit the net and then went wide.
However, Prannoy himself failed to keep the shuttle in play twice to allow the Chinese keep breathing down his neck. Prannoy tried to keep Chen guessing by changing the pace and angles of his strokes. But he faltered in finishing the rallies as his smashes often went wide or an attempted net dribble caught the net.
Chen entered the interval with a slender 11-10 lead.
The duo continued engaging in some long rallies with both displaying great athleticism and repertoire of strokes but Prannoy ended up going wide too often as Chen led 15-11.
Chen judged the shuttles well at the lines, often leaving them at the last moment as errors continued to pile up for Prannoy, allowing the Chinese to move to a healthy 19-14 lead. The Chinese grabbed the game point with a body smash.
After the change of sides, Chen once again jumped to a 3-0 lead. Prannoy won a lucky net chord and then smashed to make it 3-3. Chen then had a lucky moment when his return kissed the net and landed safely.
Prannoy, however, continued to find the going tough. A blind return on the move by Chen gave him an 11-6 lead at the breather.
The Indian came out with a barrage of smashes to narrow down the gap to 10-11. He lost a point but earned back the serve with another jump smash. Another rally ensued as Prannoy drew level with a good-looking cross court smash.
Chen once again moved ahead but Prannoy kept snapping at his heels. At 16-18, Prannoy faltered with a return as Chen moved to 19-16.
A quick return to serve gave the Indian another point. But he missed the line again with his smash to hand over three match points to Chen.
The Indian saved one with a stiff return at the net. But he gave an easy lift at mid court which Chen converted to take his place at the final.
Kento Momota of Japan beat Malysia's Lee Chong Wei 21-19, 21-14 in the other semifinal.
