2017 BWF World Championships: Saina Nehwal survives three-game thriller to book semi-final spot

IANS

New Delhi: Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal struggled through a three-set pulsating quarter-final match against Scotland's Kristy Gilmour winning 19-21, 21-18, 21-15 to storm into the semi-final round of the BWF World Championships, at Glasgow, today.

Saina Nehwal rampaged through to take an early lead of 5-2 in the first set, but the Scottish woman fought her way through winning six points in a row to turn the game her way. Ergo, at the break, the momentum shifted onto Gilmour, with the 23-year-old leading 11-8. But Saina struggled through to script a comeback and huffing and puffing her way through she narrowly escaped Scottish torture in the first set winning 21-19.

Saina took score to level terms 6-6 after trailing at the start of the second set. But soon showed signs of fatigue as Gilmour captivationg on it piled up ample pressure on the Indian shuttler. And it reflected clearly from the score 17-12 in favour of the Scot. But soon the 16th seeded shuttler suffered an injury and all turned sour for Gilmour. Nehwal oulled four points in a row however in the end it was Gilmour wjo eneded things at 21-18, ergo pushing forth a thrid and final set.

The decider started off quite naturally in favour of the Indian shuttler. Nehwal picked up a couple of early crucial points to take a lead of 8-3. She powered through a few drop shots and banking on Gilmour's injury, Nehwal continued her domination taking the score to 11-5. She maintained the lead over the 23-year-old with her relentless attacking finally ending the game at 21-15