Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal defeated Indonesian Aprilia Yuswandari 21-17, 21-11 to set up a women's singles summit-clash with second seed Mew Choo Wong of Malaysia at the Yonex-Sunrise Indian Open Grand Prix badminton tournament in Chennai.
The top seed Indian started the match on an attacking note and continued her rhythm throughout the encounter, while in the other semifinal Wong got the better of Linda Weni Fanetri of Indonesia 22-20, 21-17.
Meanwhile, another Indian, top seed Chetan Anand crashed out of the men's singles as unseeded Indonesian Alamsyah Yunus pulled off a 21-16, 12-21, 13-21 upset in the semi-final.
Chetan, in fact, gifted away the match, which was well within his grip but credit also goes to a crafty Yunus, who shifted the gear fast to rattle the Indian in the second and third games.
Seventh seed RMV Guru Dutt, however, overcame Kashyap Parupalli 21-6, 17-21, 21-15 in an all-Indian semi-final and now plays Yunus in the men's singles final.
A disappointed Chetan after the semifinal admitted that he allowed his rival to claw his way back into the match.
"I was moving well in the first game and controlled the net. In the second, he kept me in the back court and as I slowed down, he drew me to the net, where I was catching the shuttle far too low. He was also retrieving extremely well and has a very good overhead stroke," Chetan said.
"I feel happy because I played well. He (Chetan) preferred to communicate in gestures that seemed faster than his game that was constructed around long rallies and retrievals," Yunus said.
On the attire rule of badminton, Chetan said, "I was not aware of the rule that you have to wear the same colour shirt throughout the match. I wanted to change my top (black with sleeves) but it was of different colour (blue and sleeveless). But that was not an issue at all."
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