Sydney: Indian star Saina Nehwal defeated Chinese Sun Yu to win the women's singles title of the $750,000 Australian Badminton Open Superseries here on Sunday.
World No.8 Saina lost the first game 11-21 against the world No.12 Chinese before winning the next two games 21-14, 21-19 to clinch the championship for the second time in three years.
Now, the 2015 World Championship runner-up has a 6-1 lead in the head-to-head record against Sun.
This is her second Australian Open win and with this, the World No. 8 has managed to claim her maiden title this season.
Two years after she first lifted the title, Saina became the first shuttler to win the Australian Open for a second time. This was Saina's first final after she lost to Li Xuerui in China last November. The win also rapidly improves her chances of a second consecutive podium finish at the Rio Olympics 2016.
Saina had an impressive 5-1 record prior to the final, with their last encounter taking place in China last year. On Sunday, the Indian only took the lead further with a clinical display in the second and third game.
Her return to form also comes at the right time. With the Olympics slated to get underway a little over a month from now, Saina regaining the Australian Open title is just the tonic she needed ahead of the sporting mega-event in Brazil.
As evident as it's been from her performance in Sydney, the Indian has looked rejuvenated after finally having recovered from the nagging injuries that proved her undoing in the previous few tournaments.
Having brushed aside her long-term nemesis and World No. 2 Yihan Wang in one of the most dominating performances, Saina needed nothing less than a repeat to break her title drought in 2016.
And a repeat is what she produced.
After looking off-colour in the first game, the World No. 8 roared back to clinch the second and third game quite comprehensively in the end. In the first game when both Saina and Sun were going neck and neck, Saina had squandered the advantage.
It wasn't the case in the next one though, as Saina produced brilliant returns to catch the Chinese shuttler off-guard. From 4-4, the Chinese had raced to 8-4, and before Saina could regroup, the gap had already widened.
It was only a matter of time before Sun sealed the first game 21-11. The World No. 12 stood out with her attacking ploys, forcing Saina to defend than lay out an attack of her own.
Perhaps it was just the tonic Saina needed. In the second game, the same ploy was operated by Saina. She returned every forceful smash with a drop shot, which Sun failed to get past the net.
Saina's unforced errors came down drastically, contrary to Sun's, whose frustration was visible on her face. From the other court, Saina's play was remarkably better, while Sun's was a stark contrast from the first game.
In game 2, Saina seized the advantage and took away a 14-11 lead after trailing 8-10. Another aspect where Saina stood out was with her challenges. Barring two, all of them were spot on.
It was then that Saina produced her clinical and aggressive best, covering great court area and swiftly moving towards the net. She covered the backside with a lot of agility and peppered the rival's court with lethal smashes, few of which were aimed at Sun's body.
Once the decider got underway, Saina seized an initial advantage, mostly making the Chinese move and tire her. At 11-9, the Indian got an opportunity and she changed sides, again moving back to the part of the court from where she had played an almost spotless second game.
And soon, as the number of smashes grew, Sun's shoulders dropped. Despite her court awareness and quick movement, her fitness was the one area that stood out.
In April, Saina was ranked No. 1. Two months later, she had slipped seven places. The reason she quoted was her injuries. Sunday's performance though, was a testament to how much hard work Saina had out behind her fitness.
There weren't many chinks in her armour. Perhaps a few lapses in the first game, but you ought to ignore them considering how good she was in the remaining two.
The Chinese grabbed two quick points after the break but Saina continued to break the pace by playing attacking shots and drawing the Chinese close to the net with deceptive strokes. The result was Saina leading 17-12.
Sun had somewhat of a second wind as she would go on to win seven more points. But Saina was just a little margin ahead. Sun netted back one of Saina's smash that hit the net and fetched the Indian her second triumph in Australia, culminating into her 10th Super Series title overall.
It was the 26-year-old Hyderabadi's seventh Superseries title.
