Indonesia Masters: Saina Nehwal beats He Bingjiao to enter final

The 28-year-old from Hyderabad, who had reached the finals at the last edition, notched up a come-from-behind 18-21 21-12 21-18 triumph over sixth seed Bingjiao.

Saina Nehwal enters final of Indonesia Masters. (Source: Reuters)

Saina Nehwal gave India a beautiful gift on the country’s 70th Republic Day as she defeated China’s He Bingjiao to enter the finals of the Indonesia Masters in Jakarta on Saturday. The former world number one made a wonderful comeback after going down in the first game, winning the match 18-21, 21-12, 21-18.

Saina will now face either Spain’s three-time World Champion and reigning Olympic champion Carolina Marin or China’s Chen Yufei, seeded third, in the women’s singles summit clash of the World Tour Super 500 event.

After taking a four-point lead in the first game, Saina crumbled and went down 21-18. However, the Commonwealth Games gold medalist soon got her rhythm back as she won the second game 21-12, forcing a decider in the match.

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In the final game, it was neck-and-neck fight before Saina prevailed 21-18 over the sixth seed to win the match.

Saina, who had reached the semifinal last week at Malaysia Masters, had beaten Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong 21-7 21-18 on Friday to make it to the last four of women’s singles.

Was on the winning side in the semifinals today against ( He binjiao ) of China today … 18-21 ,21-12 , 21-18 ) … can’t express the happiness of playing the 8 th finals in Indonesia 🇮🇩… #jakarta #istorasenayan #indonesiamasterssuper500 .. Thank u @parupallikashyap (coach)☺️ pic.twitter.com/4ShrxvNDuS

— Saina Nehwal (@NSaina) January 26, 2019

After going down 18-21 in the first game, Saina Nehwal scripts an unreal turnaround to secure the next two games at 21-12;21-18 against 6th seed 🇨🇳shuttler HE Bingjiao and secure her place in the grand finale of the #IndonesiaMasters2019 #IndiaontheRise #SainaNehwal pic.twitter.com/GJQ54dwNgD

— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) 26 January 2019

Take a bow @NSaina. Semis at #malaysiamasters2019, now in the the final at #IndonesiaMastersSuper500 after beating He Bing Jiao of China in 3 games in the semis. After shin pain at the end of 2018, this is what I call the @parupallik effect to kick off 2019 ❤️ @OGQ_India

— Viren Rasquinha (@virenrasquinha) January 26, 2019

Saina won a gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, a bronze at the Asian Games, besides reaching finals at the Denmark, Indonesia Masters and Syed Modi International last year.