Syed Modi International: Saina Nehwal eyes fourth title

Saina Nehwal defeated Indonesia's Ruselli Hartawan to book her place in the finals of the Syed Modi International Badminton Championship.

Photo courtesy: Twitter/@NSaina

Lucknow: Former world number one Saina Nehwal will look to clinch her fourth women's singles title at the the Syed Modi International Badminton Championship when she crosses swords with Yue Han of China in the summit showdown of the tournament here on Sunday.

Second seed Nehwal had on Saturday rebounded strongly from a game down to clinch a 12-21, 21-7 , 21-6 win over Indonesia's Ruselli Hartawan and book her place in the finals.

The 28-year-old shuttler had earlier won the titles in 2009, 2014 and 2015 editions of the tournament. 

In the men's singles event, reigning champion Sameer Verma will also aim to defend his title when he takes on Lu Guangzu of China in the final match. 

Sameer had earlier prevailed over Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo of Indonesia 21-13, 17-21, 21-8 in a thrilling semi-final clash that lasted almost an hour. 

Meanwhile, women's doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy and men's doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will also play their respective final matches later in the day. 

Ponnappa and Reddy will square off against the Malaysian team of Chow Mei Kuan and Lee Meng Yean in the women's doubles event, while Rankireddy-Shetty will face Indonesia's Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto. 

In the last-four clash, the Indian women's doubles pair had defeated Ekaterina Bolotova and Alina Davletova of Russia 21-18, 21-16 in 38 minutes. Rankireddy and Shetty had got past the Danish team of Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen 22-20, 25-23 in a 48-minute semi-final match.