Saina in Indonesian Open final

Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal survived a gruelling battle against Chinese Lan Lu to advance to the final of the Indonesian Open Super Series in Jakarta on Saturday.

The sixth seeded Indian beat seventh seed Lu 25-23, 21-19 to set up a title clash with Chinese third-seed Lin Wang in Sunday's final.

World number three Lin beat eighth seed Xingfang Xie 21-19, 21-13 in the other semi-final.

In an edge-of-the-seat match, which saw fortunes fluctuating, it was Saina who held her nerve to emerge winner.

In the first game, Saina and Lu battled tooth and nail and were on even keel, moving from 13-13 to 23-23 before the Hyderabadi sealed the game.

Not willing to take it lying low, Lu made a dramatic comeback in the next game and raced away to 0-5 but the world number 8 Indian clawed her way back into the game to first draw parity at 13-all and then after more see-saw battle, pocketed the match.