Key highlights from the semifinal clash of the Malaysia Masters between Saina Nehwal and Carolina Marin.
Second game:
13-21: Saina's campaign at the Malaysia Masters ends here as she goes down to Carolina Marin 16-21, 13-21.
9-17: Carolina Marin now four points away from booking her place in the finals.
6-11: The interval of the second game and Saina trailing. This is the time she has to find a way out.
1-4: Marin becomes unstoppable once she gets the momentum and that is exactly happening now. Not looking good for Saina at the start of the second game.
First game:
16-21: Carolina Marin takes the first game 21-16 to put Saina under pressure going into the second game.
14-19: A comeback from this point looks unlikely as Marin needs two more points to clinch the first game.
14-14: This is for the second time, Saina has drawn level in the game. Can she seal the first game?
9-11: At the break of the first game, Marin holds a two-point lead. This is going to be a see-saw battle.
9-9: Saina stages a fighting comeback into the game with four successive points. This is good badminton from the Indian ace, but momentum would be crucial against Marin.
5-8: Marin is not someone to back off as she draws parity in the first game and then wins three straight points to extend the lead.
4-2: Saina immediately makes her intent clear and starts aggressively against the Spaniard.
10:40am: Saina Nehwal and Carolina Marin are now on the court and the match promises to be a cracker of a contest. Just few minutes away from the start...
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Saina Nehwal entered Malaysia Masters semis after a hard-fought straight-game win over former world champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan.
Seventh seeded Saina, who had a 8-4 head-to-head record against Okuhara before the match, fought back from 9-15 and 14-18 down in the two games to extend her dominance over the second-seeded Japanese with a 21-18, 23-21 win in a 48-minute quarterfinal.
Saina, who had won the title in 2017 and was a runners-up in the 2011 edition, will face a tough test against three-time world champion Carolina Marin of Spain.
Saina has defeated Marin five times and has lost to the Spaniard as many times in the last 10 meetings.
End of road for Srikanth
Srikanth squandered a one-game advantage to go down 23-21, 16-21, 17-21 to fourth seed Korean Son Wan Ho in the men’s singles quarterfinal that lasted an hour and 12 minutes.
Srikanth, who was on an unbeaten run at the recently-concluded Premier Badminton League, had recovered from a 4-11 deficit to pocket the first game but he couldn’t breach a 4-9 gap in the second game to allow Son to take the game into the decider.
The seventh seeded Indian then wasted a 5-1 advantage in the third game to allow Son march ahead after leading 11-10 at the break.
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