Kuala Lumpur: India’s Saina Nehwal reached the semi-final of Malaysian Super Series in women’s singles category as her Japanese rival Nozomi Okuhara gave her a walk-over early in the third game with the score reading 21-11, 14-21, 2-0 in Saina’s favour.
The Hyderabadi shuttler survived a scare from lower-ranked Japanese as she dropped a game after having an early advantage. But with Nozomi retiring early on in the third game, the Indian made it to the last four with a win in a 43-minute contest.
The top seed will now take on the winner between two-time All England champion Tine Baun and sixth seed Tzu Ying Tai of Chinese Taipei tomorrow.
Saina dominated the proceedings from the very beginning as after opening up a 3-0 lead, she not only maintained it but also slowly and steadily widened the gap to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
In the second game, however, Nozomi got her act together and raced ahead to a 9-1 lead and eventually made it 14-1 as Saina's game crumbled.
In the decider though, Nozomi retired due to a troubled knee while she was lagging 0-2, to hand over a victory to Saina.